Why politicians are dumping PDP for APC, others – Ex-lawmaker

A former member of the Federal House of Representatives, Dachung Bagos, has said he and other politicians defecting to other parties are doing so because the Peoples Democratic Party has failed.

Bagos stated this on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, shortly after announcing his defection from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress.

“We are not jumping parties for political ambition. We are jumping parties because of the platform that wants to give our people a voice, and leadership that says, ‘You can trust us to be able to address this very issue,’” he said.

His comments come amid a wave of defections from the PDP to the APC and the African Democratic Congress.

Bagos, who represented Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, Plateau State, from 2019 until November 2023, formally defected to the APC on January 4, 2026, alongside other key stakeholders loyal to Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang.

The defection comes weeks after Governor Mutfwang himself resigned from the PDP, and subsequently joined the APC, citing the need for clearer direction amid the opposition party’s lingering internal crises.

The ex-lawmaker dismissed claims of sycophancy, insisting that the defections were driven by principle.

“We are not jumping parties because of sycophancy. We are jumping party because the PDP has failed at this particular moment, and it is irredeemable at this particular moment, so the platform that we see that goes with our own ideology is where we are today,” he said.

Bagos said his decision to join the APC was informed by the party’s agenda, which he said aligns with the aspirations of the people of Plateau State, stressing that governance transcends party affiliation.

“Governance is beyond party lines. It is about what are those agendas on the table that you can make your people believe and understand that, look, this is the solution,” he said.

He added that President Bola Tinubu had re-emphasised key governance issues such as state police and local government autonomy.

“Our governance has now keyed into the issue of state police,” he said, adding, “If he has re-emphasised the issue of local government autonomy and to ensure that every state has local government elections.”

Bagos said the goal was to create opportunities for ordinary citizens and re-engage young people in politics.

“We want the son of nobody to be a local government chairman, we want the son of nobody to be this and that, and we want to see the youth that have never believed in politics to believe in politics,” he said.

Source: Punch