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After months of lingering crisis in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there was a seeming sigh of relief when the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) proposed and agreed on November 15 for an enlarged national elective convention.
To political watchers, the convention would provide ample opportunity to right the wrongs and reposition the former ruling party for the task of effectively challenging the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.
However, what looked like a soothing balm for the embattled party through the proposed convention has been truncated by latest developments and struggle for supremacy, with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and his allies on one hand while the National Working Committee (NWC) and the governors elected on the party’s platform on the other hand.
Just like what had seemed a norm in the PDP with power struggles, now assuming a hydra-headed dimension, all for the soul of the party, has risen again to challenge the proposed convention and at the heart of this is the possibility or otherwise of the proposed November. 15 and 16 elective gathering scheduled for Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
There is a strong resistance from the PDP members loyal to Wike, who viewed the schedule as a deliberate attempt at sidelining the minister.
The Wike group is premising its position on the controversial South East and South South leadership tussle of the party, calling for a recognition of the March 2025 South South Zonal Congress solely organised by the minister where his core loyalist, Chief Dan Orbih, was re-elected National Vice Chairman South South. While the NWC and the NEC distanced themselves from the South South Congress in Calabar, Wike has insisted that until the outcome of the Congress is ratified and recognized, the proposed National Convention would be a mirage.
On Monday, members of the PDP loyal to Wike, under the ‘Eminent Leaders and Concerned Stakeholders’, listed their conditions to be met, saying failure to meet the conditions would invalidate the convention even before it starts.
Former Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State who read their resolution after over three hours noted the members’ “collective commitment to the principles of equity, justice, inclusivity, and the rule of law”, describing them as “values upon which the PDP was founded and upon which its survival depends.”
Among their demands, Wike’s camp said while it was satisfied with the party’s zoning arrangements adopted by the NEC, the NWC must ensure there is no form of micro-zoning “for peace and stability within the party.”
They added that the national party chairmanship position should remain in the North-Central in line with the zoning formula of the 2021 convention.
“That on zoning of party offices: Whereas, we agree with the zoning committee’s recommendations, which were adopted by the NEC, that the status quo remains, we further and very strongly hold that there should be no form of micro-zoning for peace and stability within the party.”
“Consequently, the National Chairman of the party should remain in the North-Central in line with the zoning formula of the 2021 convention,” the communique read.
Apart from asking that the Calabar South South Congress outcome be upheld, they also called for fresh congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra States, and in the South-East zone, conducted by the National Working Committee, in line with court judgements, while the Ekiti State local government congress should be conducted immediately.
“We call on the National Working Committee to urgently conduct fresh, transparent, and inclusive congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra States, in line with judgments of the courts.
“That a fresh and legitimate South-East Zonal Congress should be conducted; That the outcome of the valid and legitimate South-South Congress held in Calabar, Cross River State and recognised by the court be respected.
“That the Ekiti State Local Government Areas Congress should be conducted immediately, in obedience to the subsisting court judgement,” they added.
The group warned in strong terms that failure to comply with the demands and their resolutions “shall render any purported national convention invalid, as legitimate members of the party would be disenfranchised.”
Wike’s group maintained that the leadership positions within the PDP must remain “open, inclusive, and competitive, while ensuring regional equity in accordance with the PDP’s long-standing traditions.”
They said the main opposition party now stood at “a defining crossroads”, where its ability to reconcile internal disputes, uphold fairness, and respect constitutional processes will determine its relevance in the future.
The group further cautioned; “Unity cannot be built on disenfranchisement, exclusion, or the neglect of valid judicial pronouncements,” stressing that a credible national convention must be anchored on “transparency, fairness, and respect for the rule of law as well as inclusivity.”
“The PDP was built on the foundation of inclusivity, fairness, and justice. Therefore, to reclaim its pride of place as the leading opposition and the true alternative for Nigerians, the party must now rise above narrow interests and embrace collective responsibility,” they stated.
The members reiterated their loyalty to the party, declaring, “We, the Eminent Leaders and Concerned Stakeholders, remain steadfast in our loyalty to the party and resolute in our determination to work with all organs and leaders of the PDP to ensure that the forthcoming National Convention becomes a watershed moment — a moment where unity triumphs over division, and justice prevails over impunity.
“Only then can the PDP speak with one voice, act with one heart, and march with renewed strength toward victory,” they stressed.
However, in what is like a drawn battle line, the PDP governors dared the minister, insisting that the convention would hold.
Speaking through the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, they said they would not be distracted, stressing that the convention would proceed as planned.
The Bauchi governor stated, “We are not cowards, and we are not afraid of anybody. We are capable of navigating this party beyond the shenanigans, beyond the arrogance, and beyond the impunity of others.
“We cannot continue to take part and allow people to take us to the slaughterhouse. That’s our job. And our job is to make sure we don’t go to the slaughterhouse.
“And we are working as governors and working with the committee to ensure that. The keyword is discipline. We will no longer allow or tolerate anybody to take us for granted. It has to stop. Enough is enough. We are not going to tolerate it any longer.”
Speaking further on behalf of the governors in Abuja on Tuesday at the inauguration of the 119-member National Convention Planning Committee, chaired by Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, Mohammed declared that they had also vowed to take disciplinary action against those undermining the party’s interests, insisting that the PDP would not bow to arrogance and impunity, or what they described as a “faction of fools.”
In the same vein, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Adolphus Wabara, represented by Secretary Ahmed Makarfi and other party leaders, countered Wike on micro-zoning, emphasising that both northern and southern leaders are free to micro-zone party positions, while stressing that interested members equally have the right to contest.
Of the conditions listed by the FCT Minister for peace, our correspondent gathered that the two main issues that could threaten the convention are the non-recognition of the South South Congress, and the issue of South East as the PDP leaders there still view Ude-Okoye as the authentic national secretary as against Wike’s loyalist, Samuel Anyanwu.
Also recently, the PDP leadership, despite a court order, throw weight behind Ude-Okoye as the party’s scribe, a development that has continued to cause disaffection in the Wine camp.
Daily Independent gathered that the minister fears that he could lose grip of the main stronghold of the opposition party — South East and the South South — if things fail to go his way, hence his insistence.
Also, core allies like former Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu would be rendered irrelevant once the NEC and the NWC hijack the two zones and that would also affect his own fortunes in his desire to effectively control the party from within and outside as he currently serves the APC-led Federal Government.
A source told our correspondent that the plan from the nation’s capital is to ensure that those loyal to the FCT Minister are in charge of the party in, particularly, South East and South South, which has remained the bedrock of the PDP since 1999.
However, while the members of the National Working Committee are hell-bent in going ahead with the proposed elective convention in Ibadan despite the threat from FCT, there is palpable fear of disruption and this is according to a source within the party who said the minister still has so much influence in the NWC.
Our correspondent gathered that among the members of the NEC and the NWC are still those loyal to Wike.
Daily Independent learnt from a source that given Wike’s financial and political power and also given that PDP isn’t the ruling party, many of the members still fall back to him in ways unknown to the main leadership of the party.
“A lot of them claiming to be working for the NWC are actually loyal to Wike,” said a source to our correspondent during a chat on why the FCT Minister is still showing so much strength within the party he is assumed to be not fully part of.
“A lot of them still see Wike as a Shade. Remember PDP is no longer in power and there is a shortfall in so many things, not everything will be said here but a lot of them are still benefiting from the FCT Minister.
“So any plan to completely sideline Wike from the party will affect its entire structure because those who you feel should enforce it meet with the minister once in a while.
“The question you should ask yourself is this; how many of them, right there, except those still serving in one political position or the other, can effectively maintain their lifestyles? The party is not in power and they must align. To get whatever they want.”
“Wike, whether right or wrong, still holds so much influence, so this is where the problem is. If they can purge themselves of his influence by sidelining him completely, they will make the headway,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the South South Congress, the NWC feared that Orbih whose time with Wike saw the electoral heist against the party in Rivers State is not the right person to lead the PDP in the South South.
Besides, Wike, it was gathered, merely handpicked him and called for the Congress against the party’s extant laws, hence the NWC has vowed to distance itself from the purported Congress.
Our correspondent was told that the Wike group has based its fight on the fact that without the condition being met, the national secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, firmly on the part of the minister, on whose duty it is to sign the Notice of Convention to be ratified by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would not do so, meaning if the NEC goes ahead to conduct the convention, the outcome might be challenged in court and rightly too.
The development, it has been gathered, would mean coming back to the status quo. Anyanwu is the secretary known by the Supreme Court and currently, he holds sway at the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the opposition party.
While speaking to our correspondent, legal luminary and former chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, while responding to our question on the inherent encumbrances in the PDP, said the Wike factor could still stall any progress in the party.
He said until the main opposition party sorted out the issues surrounding the membership of the FCT Minister, the proposed convention could be a mirage.
“I don’t know the kind of charm Wike is using on PDP,” he said.
“Their efforts at repositioning the party will not yield anything if the party continues to tolerate a lot of things going on there, particularly the issue of Wike.
“How can they hold any successful convention in this atmosphere? It is not going to be possible and I think they have to deal with it
“If expelling Wike is the solution, they should do it and at most, he will go to court and they will be ready to meet him there.
“What are they waiting for to allow their party to go down this low? The time to act is now,” he said.
Meanwhile, while some analysts have also said one of the grouses of the Wike group, apart from the afore-listed conditions, is taking the convention to Ibadan as PDP has been known to hold its conventions in either Abuja or Port Harcourt, it has been argued that the development was to spite the FCT Minister and ensured that Seyi Makinde, who has been rumoured to be nursing a presidential ambition in 2027, firmly controls the proceedings.
Despite the anticipated lock jam, Ibrahim Damagum, the national chairman of the party, has dared Wike, insisting that the national officers to be elected in the coming convention would lead the party, writing off any form of threat from the FCT Minister.
Speaking at the inauguration of the National Convention Committee, Damagum said; “The national officers we elect will lead our great party into the next general elections and beyond.
“We must recognise that the challenges we face as the leading opposition are mutating, much to the dismay of well-meaning Nigerians.”
He said his silence in the face of opposition from even the members like the minister was not act of cowardice but a means to ensure the stability of the party.
“Let me be clear; our success has only been made possible by silence and tolerance on my part. Not because I enjoy being disparaged, but because at critical moments, I chose restraint, not out of weakness, but as a conscious sacrifice for the survival and stability of our party.”
“Ironically, many of the destructive voices have come from individuals who have benefited immensely from the PDP. They sought to sow division and weaken our structures. Yet history will record, and analysts will debate, but the consensus will remain that in a time of great difficulty, this National Working Committee, under my leadership, held the line and did a remarkable job.‘
“Today, I say with conviction that the PDP is not broken. The PDP is not defeated. The PDP is marching forward; stronger, more determined, and better prepared to fulfill our overriding objective: to reclaim the presidency of this great country and rebuild Nigeria from the mismanagement of the current ruling party.”
Speaking further, he said: “This mission is critical. The recent by-elections across the country, as well as the local government elections in Port Harcourt, speak for themselves. Opposition parties were met with intimidation and blatant rigging. The ruling party has shown no regard for democracy; their only interest lies in disenfranchising voters and stealing mandates.“ I will not dignify their actions by calling it ‘winning.’
Meanwhile, reassuring as the words of the PDP national chairman is, Nigerians are gripped with palpable fear of further implosion in the main opposition party which would give the coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC) a leeway to stand in the gap.
