In a political volte‑face that has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s fractious party landscape, former Senate President David Mark on 27 June formally severed his 27 years ties with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing “deepening divisions, persistent leadership crises and irreconcilable differences” that have left the once‑formidable party a “shadow of its former self”.
In a resignation letter addressed to his Otukpo Ward PDP chairman, Mark—who remained steadfast even after the rout of 2015—declared his intention to join the National Coalition of Political Opposition Movement, signalling a bold new chapter in Nigeria’s march towards the 2027 polls.
Mark’s exit is as much an epitaph for his half‑century influence as it is a critique of the PDP’s internal rot. A retired Brigadier General, Mark served as Senate President from 2007 to 2015—the longest tenure in Nigeria’s modern history—and represented Benue South from 1999 until 2019, shaping legislative oversight and constitutional reform for two decades.
As a founding pillar of the PDP in 1998, his departure underlines a leadership vacuum that successive chairmen have failed to fill, despite controlling the presidency and a super‑majority in both houses as recently as 2015.
This disenchantment is compounded by electoral setbacks: in the 25 February 2023 House of Representatives election, the PDP was reduced to 118 of 360 seats—a loss of eight seats since 2019—ceding ground to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the insurgent Labour Party.
On the Senate floor, the PDP holds just 37 of 109 seats, down three since the previous assembly, underscoring its waning influence in the National Assembly.
Such attrition reflects not merely the ebbs and flows of electoral politics, but a party riven by factionalism, cronyism and strategic drift.
In an unapologetic closing salvo, Mark announced his interim appointment as National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)‑backed coalition, alongside former Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary, and ex‑sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi as publicity secretary.
The newly christened ADC coalition vows to “rescue our nation and preserve our hard‑earned democracy,” setting the stage for an electrifying realignment that could irrevocably alter Nigeria’s political calculus ahead of 2027.
Mark’s defection thus marks not only the denouement of a PDP dynasty but the birth of a formidable opposition bloc primed to challenge President Tinubu’s hegemony.
