Former governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Torwua
Suswam, has warned that without transparent leadership,PDP risks losing big in 2027 elections, despite its nationwide structure.

Senator Gabriel Suswam has warned that unless the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) addresses its leadership crisis and produces credible candidates, it may face serious challenges in the 2027 elections—despite its widespread national structure.

While commenting on the issue of whether a merger is essential, Suswam argued that while PDP has national reach, what it truly needs are transparent leadership and a credible candidate.

“Two basic factors that can enhance the chances of PDP in the next election. First… PDP has structures across the length and breadth of this country. In every ward you go, there’s PDP.”

“What we need in PDP, first and foremost, is transparent leadership at a national level… It’s all about deceit. People are not sure any longer… People have lost confidence completely in PDP.”

Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Tuesday, Suswam emphasised that PDP remains the only legacy party in Nigeria but is deeply handicapped by internal dysfunction, particularly poor leadership and failure to resolve internal disputes.

“PDP is about the only legacy party that we have in this country,” Suswam said. “Yes, people have suddenly realized that they should fix PDP back. But the question—there are a lot of questions that go with it. Is it not too late in the day?”

He criticised the PDP Governors Forum for rejecting merger talks with other parties, describing the decision as “obsolete,” especially given the level of disenchantment within PDP ranks.

“If I was part of passing that resolution, I wouldn’t be that obsolete because there’s no consultation among the stakeholders of PDP. People have waited all this while,” he stated.

According to Suswam, many stakeholders have mentally checked out of the party due to unresolved issues such as manipulated congresses and repeated postponements of critical meetings like the National Executive Council (NEC).

“Those fundamental issues in the states where congresses were not held and results were announced—and nothing has been done about it—how can you expect such people to remain and just sit down and wait?”

When asked about a recent social media spat between the sons of PDP figures Atiku Abubakar and Governor Bala Mohammed—where the former accused the latter of working for the APC—Suswam dismissed it as irrelevant gossip.

“I don’t think in this country we should reduce the issues of governance to our family members… I don’t want to comment on that. As far as I’m concerned, that comes no issue.”

He also rejected claims that Bala Mohammed worked against the PDP in the last elections.
“Bala won election under PDP. I doubt very much whether he worked against it… In states where we worked, where PDP worked against PDP, we lost those elections—in Benue, for instance.”

On the kind of presidential candidate PDP should field, Suswam stressed the importance of merit and public engagement, rather than backdoor endorsements.

“Let us have people who have interest. It’s not just about somebody sitting and saying that I want to be presidential candidate of PDP. That will not suffice… People want to be anointed. People just don’t want to contest.”

He criticised the trend of moneybags entering the race without popular support, calling for serious self-assessment among aspirants.

“People have little money in their bank’s account and each and every one of them wants to run for president. That is what is happening.”

When asked about who the national secretary of PDP is, Suswam’s answer revealed ongoing internal confusion.

“This is a tricky question”, he said. “You should ask the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court threw more confusion.”

He expressed disappointment at the Supreme Court’s decision to refer the PDP secretaryship dispute back to the party, rather than issuing a decisive ruling.

“We expected the Supreme Court would have been more definite… Because they were not definite, there’s more confusion. We’ll go back to PDP if at all NEC would take place.”