Iduoriyekemwen: Bids PDP good-bye
The Director General of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council for the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election, and one-time Commissioner in the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, on Tuesday resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) joining the long list of prominent members of the beleaguered party that had walked out on it in the past few months due to protracted crises.
Iduoriyekemwen described his decision as “painstaking” given the vital role the PDP had played in his “political journey and personal development”. He however lamented the erosion of the values and principles that once defined the PDP, which he noted no longer align with the vision of the founding fathers of “a truly democratic, all inclusive, and people-centred political party”.
Announcing his exit from the PDP in a letter addressed to the Chairman, Ward 5, Ikpoba-Okha local government area of the party dated July 17, 2025, Iduoriyekemwen, a former majority leader at the Edo State House of Assembly which earned him the moniker ‘Major’, cited recent developments at both the state and the national levels of the party as reasons for his decision.
Newsmata.com.ng recalls that Iduoriyekemwen’s last major engagement with the PDP was at its stakeholders meeting last Monday where he advised the party not to participate in the scheduled August 16, 2025, by-elections to fill the two vacant federal legislative seats in the state because of the division in the party.
The former chieftain of the party was however silent on his next political move amid gale of defections from the embattled party to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. He simply stated that he would want to concentrate on his family and businesses.
Part of the letter reads: “I am writing to formally resign my membership from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ward 5, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area, Edo State.
“This is a painstaking decision for me, as the PDP has played a vital role in my political journey and personal development.
“For this, I remain deeply grateful and will always cherish the platform the party provided me.
“However, recent developments within the party – both at the state and national levels-have made it difficult for me to remain as a member of the Party.
“The values and principles that once defined the PDP, as laid down by our founding fathers appear to have been eroded. What we see today no longer aligns with the vision they had for a truly democratic, all inclusive, and people-centred political party.
“In view of this, I have decided to resign my membership of the Party to enable me concentrate fully on my family and business engagements.
“This is not a decision made out of anger or haste, but one rooted in deep reflection and a sincere desire to preserve my personal values and integrity.
“I sincerely thank the party leadership and all members of Ward 5, Ikpoba-Okha LGA, for their love and support over the years. I wish the PDP well in her future endeavours.”
Matthew Iduoriyekemwen was a founding member of the PDP in Edo State in Edo State. He joined the party at inception in 1998, contested for the Edo State House of Assembly, and subsequently became part of the first democratic government in Edo State in the Fourth Republic. In 2012 and 2016, he contested for the governorship ticket of the PDP. In the 2016 contest, he also participated in the primary election organised by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the PDP, where he emerged as a winner. Modu Sheriff was later sacked as national chairman of the PDP by the Supreme Court, invalidating the actions of his factional working committee.
In 2022, Iduoriyekemwen won the party’s ticket to contest to represent the Edo South Senatorial District at the National Assembly.
He had, however, not always been a member of the PDP as he had a sojourn in the APC. Following the fallout from the crisis in PDP in 2017, Iduoriyekemwen defected to the APC with Agbonayinma Ehiozuwa, then a serving House of Representatives member for Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Federal constituency.
He was to resign from the APC alongside the then Governor Godwin Obaseki in the build-up to the 2020 Edo State governorship election when he returned to the PDP which he has now dumped for the second time.