Former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adamu Garba, has dismissed the relevance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), likening the once-dominant political force to a “cucumber” rather than a resilient Iroko tree.
Speaking during an interview on Focus Nigeria, a programme aired on AIT, Garba said the PDP is in a state of decline and self-destruction, lacking the strength and structure needed to be competitive in the 2027 general elections.
“The way to know if a party or society is growing is to use the allegory of a tree — you have roots, it grows, produces fruits, drops seeds, and regenerates,” he said.
“But what we are seeing now is the party retreating to its roots because the branches have dried up and the leaves have fallen. An Iroko tree can live for over 100 years, but the PDP is not an Iroko — it’s a cucumber, because it has withered.”
Garba criticized the party’s internal conflicts and leadership struggles, pointing to disagreements between key figures such as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“The PDP has lost public confidence. Their internal disputes, including those that played out at their last convention, show a lack of cohesion. These issues are entirely self-inflicted,” he said.
He argued that efforts within the PDP to revive its early days of political dominance are driven more by nostalgia than by strategy.
“They’re trying to replay the script of 1998 and 1999, hoping it might bring them back, but the political landscape has changed. Unless the party reinvents itself, it won’t be a serious contender in 2027,” Garba concluded.
