News Editor
By Ibrahim Nasiru
“In politics, three weeks is long enough to win a war, but apparently just long enough to realize you’re in the wrong army.”
The political landscape of Nasarawa State just witnessed a whirlwind romance that ended before the ink on the marriage certificate was dry. In a move that has left pundits and voters alike rubbing their eyes, Dr. David Ombugadu, the two-time PDP gubernatorial candidate, has officially pulled the plug on his membership with the APC-returning to the PDP fold after a mere 21-day “honeymoon.”
When Ombugadu originally crossed the carpet in early March 2026, it was framed as a seismic shift. For the APC, securing the opposition’s most potent electoral threat looked like a masterstroke, while for Ombugadu, it was presented as a strategic escape from the PDP’s internal leadership crises.
However, the reality on the ground soured with record speed. By March 24, 2026, Ombugadu tendered a resignation that was as sharp as it was sudden, signaling that the “change” he sought in the APC wasn’t the kind he expected.
Insiders suggest this wasn’t just a simple change of heart, but a reaction to a “closed-door” policy within the APC’s hierarchy. Two major friction points turned the romance cold: first, a reported senatorial blockade where rumours surfaced that the party was pressuring Governor Abdullahi Sule to take the same Nasarawa North seat Ombugadu coveted; and second, a perceived “successor plot” within the APC’s new electronic registration system designed to favour a hand-picked governorship candidate, effectively freezing out newcomers regardless of their pedigree.
The big question in the tea shops of Lafia today is whether this was a political suicide mission or a masterstroke. To his critics, the 21-day flip-flop looks like a “political somersault” that landed awkwardly, portraying a sense of indecision that could alienate the core base that stayed behind in the PDP. To his loyalists, however, this was a strategic reconnaissance mission.
They argue that by stepping into the APC “lion’s den,” he saw firsthand that the machinery was rigged against him. Rather than wasting years sidelined in a party that only wanted him as a trophy, he cut his losses early.
By returning to the PDP on March 25, 2026, he is betting that being a big fish in a familiar pond is better than being a decorative guest in a hostile one. This U-turn has effectively reset the 2027 race, leaving the PDP with its “prodigal son” back and the APC to manage the optics of a major defector deciding their house wasn’t worth living in after just three weeks.
In Nasarawa politics, it seems 21 days is more than enough time for a lifetime of drama.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru is a Public Affairs Analyst and writes from Abuja
