How we lost Adeleke, Fubara — PDP
How we lost Adeleke, Fubara — PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has attributed the defections of Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke; and Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to internal leadership lapses and unresolved tensions within the party rather than external political pressure.
Speaking on Channels TV’s “The Morning Brief”, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, admitted that the party failed to act decisively on warning signs, particularly in Adeleke’s case.
“Adeleke is a victim of circumstances, and those circumstances were created by human failings within the party. Every problem has a human cause and therefore should also have a human solution, but decisive action was not taken early enough. If leadership had acted firmly from 2023 when the decline began, the outcome might have been different,” he said.
He noted that party leaders wrongly assumed that the Osun crisis would naturally calm down.
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“Sometimes leaders believe that once passions cool, people will reconsider their positions. But that didn’t happen, and by the time the convention in Ibadan took decisive action, things had already gone too far,” Ememobong said, adding that Adeleke became “a victim of vicarious liabilities he could not detach himself from.”
Addressing the Rivers crisis, Ememobong stressed that Fubara’s situation was entirely different. He insisted that the governor actively discouraged party intervention throughout his conflict with political stakeholders in the state.
“We are not making excuses. Both situations are circumstantial. But in Fubara’s case, he voluntarily became the party’s candidate and those who supported him have repeatedly spoken about the agreements made. Till today, he hasn’t told anyone what the agreement was,” he said.
The party spokesman revealed that the PDP became alarmed when Fubara publicly declared that he no longer felt safe within the party despite earlier describing the crisis as a “father–son matter.”
Reacting to the governor’s allegation that the PDP abandoned him, Ememobong said Fubara repeatedly rejected the party’s attempts to defend him.
“When fighting for someone, the person must feel you are fighting for him. Throughout that period, he insisted he would ‘resolve it’. You cannot cry more than the bereaved,” he stated.
He also cited concerns raised by senior lawyers over the Supreme Court’s refusal to assign a date for the suit filed by PDP governors on the matter.
Despite the defections, Ememobong dismissed claims that the PDP had collapsed.
“A political party is a hotbed of conflict. Even the ruling party faces internal battles. We are reaching out to our governors ahead of 2027, but we are not begging anyone to stay,” he added.
