Edo Political Bombshell: Ighodalo Ally Quits PDP Over Collapse of Internal Democracy

A key figure in Edo State’s political landscape, Darlington Ray Okpebholo, has formally announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing a collapse of internal democracy and the hijacking of the party by vested interests.

Okpebholo, who served as the Lead Spokesman of the Team Asue Media Organization (TAMO)—the campaign platform for former PDP gubernatorial candidate Asue Ighodalo—made his decision public in a letter dated July 17, 2025. Addressed to the PDP Chairman of Ward 5 in Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State, the letter condemned what he described as the “suffocation of hope” for young Nigerians by anti-democratic forces now controlling the party.

Reflecting on his decades-long journey within the PDP, Okpebholo highlighted various roles he had undertaken since joining the party in 1998. These included serving on the media teams for prominent gubernatorial campaigns such as those of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu in 2016 and Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020, as well as acting as the National Coordinator of the Think Naija Think Atiku Support Group and a member of the PDP Youth Mobilization Committee in 2019.

He expressed deep disappointment at what he described as the party’s abandonment of its founding ideals—namely, inclusion, internal democracy, and collective progress. “The soul of the PDP has been surrendered,” he lamented, stating that the party no longer reflects the aspirations of ordinary Nigerians or the youth who once believed in its promise of national transformation.

While acknowledging the opportunities the PDP had afforded him to grow, serve, and lead, Okpebholo emphasized that he could no longer, in good conscience, remain aligned with a system that had lost touch with its core mission.

Concluding his resignation, he expressed optimism for the future and signaled openness to new political directions. “I now turn to new possibilities, with firm belief that Nigeria deserves better,” he stated.