From VICTOR GAI, Jalingo
Taraba State’s political landscape was thrown into turmoil today, Wednesday, 19 November 2025, by Governor Agbu Kefas’ defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has triggered a wave of backlash, ethical debate and a wholesale collapse of the PDP’s structure in the state, culminating in the defection of the Speaker and 16 lawmakers to the ruling party.
Stakeholders split as Kefas dumps PDP
Mixed reactions have continued to trail the governor’s dramatic exit from the party that brought him to power, with sharply contrasting interpretations of the motive behind the move.
While some stakeholders insist that defections are normal in a multiparty democracy, others argue that Kefas’ action represents a troubling pattern of political opportunism devoid of ideology or principle.
Defending the governor’s switch, the Taraba State PDP Publicity Secretary, Andetarang Iranmae, downplayed the controversy and described the realignment as part of democratic politics.
According to him: “It is a normal thing. Politics is about alliances and shifting alliances, alignment and realignment. It is for the good of the state.”
However, civil society activist Joseph Gimba rejected such justifications, insisting that the governor’s action reflects Nigeria’s weak political culture.
According to him: “It is a lack of proper political culture, socialization and education. It has been in our political lexicon that you can be elected in one political party and change to another political party. If you look at it ethically, it is wrong.”
He argued that any public officeholder intending to defect “ought to exhaust the process before leaving for another political party” and, if unwilling to do so, “resign and contest in another political party.”
He added: “And people look at it as a normal thing. For me, it is not right.”
Gimba also dismissed claims that Kefas defected to align with the Federal Government, describing such reasoning as flimsy.
“If you say the defection is to align with the central government, as far as we are concerned, the situation is different. They only do politics because they want the position.”
He maintained that PDP governors nationwide had continued to perform without defecting.
“So not giving a particular party what it deserves is never an excuse… So there is no excuse for saying that you want to align for development.”
Lamenting Nigeria’s transactional political culture, he added: “It is just that our politics does not have values, principles, ideology. It indicates that everything goes. From 1999 to date, our politics has been that of transaction. It is a transactional democracy that lacks service to the people.”
Speaker, 16 lawmakers follow governor to APC
Meanwhile, even as the debate over Kefas’ defection intensified, the Taraba State House of Assembly announced on Monday that all 16 PDP members had resigned from the party and joined the APC, completing what observers described as a near-total political realignment in the state.
The announcement was made during plenary by Speaker John Kizito Bonzina, who read letters submitted by the lawmakers signalling their intention to dump the PDP for the APC.
According to Bonzina, the defections fall under Section 109 of the Constitution, which allows lawmakers to switch parties in the event of division within their political party.
In their letters, the lawmakers cited a lingering leadership crisis within the PDP at the national level, claiming the existence of two rival factions that had thrown the party into confusion and rendered continued membership untenable.
The defectors, who confirmed their decisions after plenary, said the unresolved internal wrangling that once elevated the party’s profile had now weakened it irreparably. They added that they had consulted their constituencies before moving to the APC.
Jethro Yakubu, representing Wukari I, explained that his defection became necessary as the crisis threatening the PDP “has the potential to expunge the party from the country.”
Similarly, Musa Chul of Gassol I and Nelson Len, representing Nguroje Constituency, said remaining in the PDP would jeopardise their political future, prompting their defections and those of their supporters.
With the mass exodus, the APC now holds an absolute majority in the 24-member Taraba State House of Assembly.
No PDP official was willing to comment following today’s sweeping defections.