₦airaland Forum

*Terms still being negotiated*Makinde’s camp disappointed

An end may have finally come to the active relevance of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Chairman of its governors’ forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has concluded plans to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) this week, barring any unforeseen circumstances, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.

THISDAY gathered last night that the terms of his defection to the ruling party were still being negotiated.

However, multiple sources privy to the negotiations told THISDAY that he was offered the APC senatorial ticket and would get all the allowances received by other governors that joined the ruling party.

According to the sources, the Bauchi State governor, in a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and the APC leadership, disclosed his intention to be part of the political family.

One of the sources stated that his planned defection to the APC may not be unconnected with the travails of his Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, who is facing terrorism charges and a money laundering case involving about N4.6billion

The commissioner was said to have threatened to implicate the governor if he was not released from custody.
It was learnt that the ruling party handed stringent conditions to Mohammed, different from the agreements the ruling party reached with other governors.

Sources close to the Governor Seyi Makinde’s camp in the party have, however, expressed shock and disappointment with the development.

Members of Makinde’s camp are said to be wondering how a governor who led the flock of PDP governors could capitulate at the expense of the party, whose misery he was believed to have contributed to through his hardline posturing over the years.

Sources privy to the defection plot hinted that when Mohammed met with the president to conclude his defection plans, the president was said to have pointedly told him that it would be difficult to hand him the structure of the party as they did to other governors.

Tinubu, it was learnt, also explained to him the reasons why the APC structure in the state would not be handed over to him.

According to one of the sources, the president allegedly said the best he could do at the instance was to hand him his ticket back to the Senate, but that he won’t be allowed to nominate his successor.

“Unlike the privileges extended to the early detectors, Bala Mohammed can’t get the full APC structure in Bauchi. They told him the best he could get is his ticket to the Senate since he is nursing the ambition, but he can’t nominate his successor. He was told in clear terms. He is stuck, from all indications,” the source explained.

THISDAY also gathered that the governor was allegedly mandated to apologise to the son of the president, Seyi Tinubu, who was embarrassed last year by Mohammed’s son for sharing palliatives with the people of Bauchi State during last year’s Ramadan.

The source stated: “I’m not sure if you read sometime last year when Seyi Tinubu distributed some palliatives to people in Bauchi and Bala’s son lashed him thoroughly? They didn’t forget the embarrassment it caused them, and they have asked him to go and apologise to Seyi Tinubu. In fact, this particular condition is taken seriously.”

Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed, the son of Bauchi State Governor, had reportedly lashed out at Seyi in mid-March 2025.

He criticised Seyi for distributing food items in Bauchi State during Ramadan, calling on him instead to focus on sustainable empowerment, such as job training and business resources, rather than handouts.

However, in a show of his seriousness about joining the APC, Mohammed has allegedly apologised to the president’s son. Still, the governor is said to be uncomfortable with the other condition.

According to the source, he wanted to have a say in his succession plans because of his legacy.

To this end, the source explained that the governor went back to the National Chairman of the APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, to help speak with the president about considering a 60/40 structure-sharing arrangement in the state.

Although none of the sources could confirm whether the APC chairman had completed his assignment, Mohammed was said to have taken further steps in his defection plot by convening a stakeholders’ meeting in the state this week, in the expectation that the president would concede to his request.

This development has angered other members of the party in Governor Makinde’s camp, who considered Mohammed’s last-minute decision a betrayal of all the efforts to reconcile and rearrange the PDP’s fortune.

Some of the PDP members, who got wind of the development, said if the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum could not stay back to fight for his party, despite all that he and Makinde had put into the efforts to rescue the party, then the hope for democracy has dimmed further.

Meanwhile, if Mohammed joins the APC, the number of governors in the party will rise to 32. While the PDP has Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and the Labour Party (LP) has Alex Otti of Abia State, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord Party have Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State and Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, respectively.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/2026/03/15/bala-mohammed-pdp-govs-forum-chairman-moves-to-join-apc/

Most of what I'm seeing in the article looks like beer parlour talk.

If this is true, I support him, they should all leave the pdp for wike. In the long run, wike will know what he has done to himself

Fake
Fake
Fake
Fake
Fake

And no governor believes in ADC, or they will collapse their structure and move to APC too.

Parachoko:
Most of what I'm seeing in the article looks like beer parlour talk.

Trust no politician sir. 😂

It shall never be well with bala Muhammed after killing PDP you want to run to another party abi ? Bala must not run away from PDP

PDP has only one option left for survival; adopt Wike as the National Leader and agree to whatever terms he wants. Concede the presidency to him and put up candidates in all other elective positions. PDP still has the grassroots structure more than any other opposition party in Nigeria. They will even do far better than ADC in state and legislative elections.

This is the time for them to quit being emotional and be pragmatic. Settle with Wike and salvage whatever can be salvaged or keep fighting him and lose everything. Shouldn’t be a difficult decision to make.

Parachoko:
Most of what I'm seeing in the article looks like beer parlour talk.

That is how it always starts. Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Enugu, Bayelsa, Taraba, Plateau, Kano and Adamawa all started like beer parlor talk. Today, they are all in APC.

Bala Mohammed is even in a very tough situation. ADC is not an option for him because Atiku and some of his other haters like Sadiq Abubakar are already in the party. PDP is no longer a reliable platform to be used to sponsor his successor. The only realistic option left for him is APC. So, don’t bet on this.

EggZatly

Parachoko:
Most of what I'm seeing in the article looks like beer parlour talk.

Seyi Makinde whats up?

Over to you?

Na wah, so this one party state is real?
Hmmm, this is a monarchy in the making, Nigerians go serve baba come serve pikin too. Lol

I have said it before that by 2027 all 36 states will be APC

Forget about PDP and move on. The party has long been murdered by Wike. APC about having 32 State governors but Tinubu isn't still Sure if he will be Voted. There is Fire on the mountain in the Northern Nigeria.

With this wike na baba of them all..

Truly truly na him get PDP

Light weight politician. One would think he is strong the way he was talking in the past.

How the mighty have fallen

Truely,power belongs to the LIVING GOD.

I remember the PDP OF 1999-2007

They were Africa's most prominent and powerful political party.

Look at them today.

I thought he once said presidency cannot force him to join APC. He must have joined the winning party willingly.

I told you guys that it's just a matter of time and you have seen it yourself.

Fekumzi123:
I thought he once said presidency cannot force him to join APC. He must have joined the winning party willingly.

All is just talk, nothing else.

I have no comments.
Rip to the PDP

oyichi:
If this is true, I support him, they should all leave the pdp for wike. In the long run, wike will know what he has done to himself

Na wa for you oooo!

Them leave Wike to go meet Wike. Such an irony of life

They've blackmail this one with money laundering and financing terrorism through his finance commissioner to join their coven.
He's now free to embezzle as much as he wants, also free to finance terrorism, he's innocent and will be fully compensated as much as he's part of apc

Apc and pdp already made a path, na to domesticate other mushroom party remain !

1. Jagaban Borgu .......
2. The slayer of yes daddies..........
3. The god of nigerian modern politics........
4. They predicted this one party state and it is coming to fruition in our own eyes............
5. All enemies are aligning and all agenda gending ;
6. From Lagos to the whole of SW and now the whole of Nigeria and Africa by extension................
7. This tsunami is unprecedented in the history of the country not even for someone well hated and abhorred based on tribalism
8. We hail the king of politics
9. You are the builder of modern Nigeria
10. You are the chosen one and we all stand on your mandate

You dey shout fake like say politicians can be trusted ... It real bro

Malagans:
Fake
Fake
Fake
Fake
Fake

Moroccoguy:
And no governor believes in ADC, or they will collapse their structure and move to APC too.

Can ADC offer what they are offering him in APC?
Tinubu is just using money to buy them over

It is finished. But pls let have free and fair elections and real time transmission of results. At least all governors are in one party

Going, going,......gone!
The leadership of the APC government has finally succeeded in destroying the PDP through greed.
Even Seyi Makinde deserves all that has befallen him, being a traitor himself through his activities in the G5 against the PDP.

Sincerely I hate how APC is just accepting every opportunist into the party. This party cannot stand another decade after tinubu's tenure because of too many madt politicians.