A leadership crisis within Nigeria’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) escalated Tuesday as governors elected on the party’s platform rejected moves by a faction aligned with Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike to reschedule the party’s national convention and dissolve key zonal structures.
The governors, including Oyo State’s Seyi Makinde and Bauchi State’s Bala Mohammed, said the Wike-backed caretaker committee lacks the constitutional authority to organise a national convention or dissolve zonal committees. They are backing the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN)-led National Working Committee (NWC).
Earlier Tuesday, the caretaker committee announced it had shifted the PDP’s national convention from March 28 to March 29–30 and dissolved the South-West, North-West and Plateau zonal committees. The announcement was made in Abuja by the committee’s Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Mohammed, following a meeting described as that of the National Working Committee.
The Turaki-led NWC dismissed the moves as illegitimate. Its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, described the caretaker committee as acting in “self-deception” and insisted there would be no convention under its watch.
The dispute follows a ruling last Friday by the Federal High Court in Ibadan, which nullified the PDP’s National Convention held in Ibadan on Nov. 15, 2025, and restrained Turaki and others from acting as national officers of the party. Turaki and his allies have since instructed their lawyers to file an appeal.
Before the ruling, PDP governors had endorsed the Ibadan convention, which elected Turaki and other NWC members for a four-year term. Wike and his allies, however, maintained that the convention was invalid and moved to set up a 13-member caretaker committee on Dec. 8, a day before the expiration of former chairman Umar Damagum’s tenure.
Both factions later sought recognition from the Independent National Electoral Commission, but INEC declined to recognise either group, triggering multiple court cases ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Welcoming the court ruling, the Wike-aligned faction said it would proceed with plans to organise a fresh convention to elect a new NWC. Mohammed said the caretaker committee was making adjustments to ensure an “all-inclusive” convention and had dissolved the affected zonal committees to pave the way for caretaker structures.
“There are major and far-reaching decisions that have been taken,” Mohammed said, adding that wider consultations were ongoing to accommodate party members willing to participate in the process.
Acting factional chairman Abdulrahman Mohammed said the PDP remained united under his leadership and pledged to organise a transparent and inclusive convention.
The Turaki-led NWC rejected those claims, insisting the zonal committees remain intact. “They lack the capacity and the locus to do so,” Ememobong said. “It is just a movie called Fool’s Paradise.”
Meanwhile, the management and staff of the PDP publicly declared loyalty to the Turaki-led NWC, despite the court ruling. In a statement signed by Acting Director of Administration Gambo Gaude, Director-General of the PDP Institute Edward Ugbada and 74 other staff members, the party’s workforce said the Ibadan convention was valid and in line with the PDP constitution.
The staff argued that courts lack jurisdiction over the internal affairs of political parties and said INEC was duly notified and present at the Ibadan convention, as required by the Electoral Act.
They said they would not recognise any leadership other than the Turaki-led NWC, describing it as the validly elected authority of the party.
