A former governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Seriake Dickson, has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has effectively collapsed.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Dickson said the party he joined in the mid-2000s no longer exists. He attributed its downfall to internal crises and leadership failures.
“The PDP that I came to be part of, that PDP has since been killed, has since been buried,” he said, adding that the party had lost its identity and no longer represents the platform Nigerians once entrusted with power for years.
Dickson recalled that the PDP had produced successive presidents, including Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan. “Three presidents were elected back-to-back, but what is left now clearly cannot be that same party,” he said.
He blamed the party’s decline on internal disagreements and the unwillingness of key actors to compromise. “People must agree to be reasonable and place the interest of the party and the country above personal ambition,” he said.
The former governor noted that efforts to stabilise the party, including proposals for a caretaker arrangement, were ignored. “There were chances that we could rescue the party, but those options were not taken,” he added.
Dickson, who chaired several reconciliation committees under different party leaderships, said he had stayed in the PDP for years in the hope it could be salvaged. “It won’t be correct to say that I left PDP. The PDP, unfortunately, has left us,” he said.
He further described the party as lacking structure and leadership clarity, warning that its decline was a setback for Nigeria’s democracy.
On his next political move, Dickson revealed that he had joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), describing it as a growing opposition platform focused on building its base before forming coalitions.
