Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once the country’s dominant political force, is fighting for survival ahead of January’s general election. After holding the presidency for 16 years, the party lost power in 2015 and has since been in decline. A leadership battle between rival factions, including one aligned with Nyesom Wike, who serves in President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress-led government, has left one faction without representation on the ballots. The PDP, which once controlled most of Nigeria’s 36 states, now holds none, following a wave of governor defections to the ruling APC and other parties. The departure of prominent figures, including former vice president Atiku Abubakar, has further weakened its national machinery. While loyalists point to grassroots infrastructure and cite historical comebacks elsewhere, analysts say only a merger with rival opposition parties could realistically save the PDP from fading into irrelevance by the next electoral cycle.