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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
After the harrowing experience of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2025, there is no respite yet for the major opposition. The battle for the control of the PDP ahead of the 2027 general election, which peaked last year, has shifted fully to the courts.
At the moment, there are no fewer than four cases pending at the various courts, including the Court of Appeal with regards to the crisis. They include Appeal on the judgement of two Federal High Courts in Abuja, which halted the Ibadan convention, the case pending before the Oyo High Court, compelling the party to go ahead with the convention and another case before a Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to nullify the outcome of the PDP Convention held in Ibadan last November.
The PDP has been embroiled in crisis, arising from supremacy tussle between the PDP Governors, led by the duo of Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, on the one hand, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and his loyalists, on the other. The crisis, Daily Sun gathered, assumed a new twist after the party’s November 15 and 16 national conventions, which ushered in a new National Working Committee (NWC), with former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Government Affairs, Tanimu Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as chairman. Besides, the convention announced the expulsion of Wike, and his allies including former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, Senator Samuel Anyanwu over alleged anti-party activities.
In a retaliatory move, the Wike camp also announced the expulsion of Bauchi and Oyo states governors, as well as well Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, BoT chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, and Chief Olabode George among others. The camp further set up a 13-man National Caretaker Committee, headed by Abdulraham Mohammed, with Anyanwu as secretary, to manage the affairs of the party.
Prior to the convention, party leaders were divided on the exercise, following conflicting verdicts by different court of coordinate jurisdiction. The division led to suspension and counter-suspension of party leaders by the two feuding camps.
Last November, the two camps clashed at the National Secretariat, the Wadata Plaza, in Abuja, over the control of the party office. The development, which led to a free for all by supporters of the major gladiators at the Wadata Plaza, led to the police sealing up the National secretariat, as well as its Presidential Campaign Office, Legacy House, all in the FCT, Abuja.
However, while the gladiators await the judgment of the court on the leadership dispute, the battle for control of the PDP has since shifted to the state and zonal chapters. The state and zonal chapters have become the new frontiers for the battle for the control of the opposition party. Daily Sun gathered that no fewer than 20 states chapters and the zones, where the PDP factions are flexing muscles in a bid to assert their dominance in the affairs of the opposition party ahead of the 2027 general elections are affected.
The affected states include Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Ekiti in Borno, Bauchi, Oyo, Zamfara, Yobe, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Delta, Taraba, Kano and Lagos, as well as the North Central, South -East and South- South zones. Last week, the Wike camp, announced plans to hold state congresses in some states and zones, as well as fixed its national convention for March 28-30.
Opposition party walking a familiar path
Interestingly, the opposition party has walked this path before. In 2016, the opposition party had broken into factions after its national convention in Port Harcourt to elect a new NWC was botched. While the governors set up a caretaker committee headed by former Kaduna State Governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi to manage the affairs of the opposition party, the former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, who was until the Port Harcourt convention the National Chairman, resisted the move.
In the ensuing controversy, the Wadata Plaza was shut by the police for several months, with the two factions operating from outside the national secretariat. After months of legal tussle beginning from the High Court to the Supreme Court, the apex court eventually resolved the leadership tussle in favour of the Makarfi led caretaker committee.
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Like the 2016 crisis, not a few believe that the crisis will not end until the Supreme Court ultimately decides which of the two camps is right in the battle for the control of the PDP. However, there are concerns that while the crisis lingers, it would impact negatively on the prospects of the opposition party, beginning from the forth coming Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial contests and ultimately the 2027 general election.
Push for political solution
Nonetheless, some members of the party are pushing for the opposition party to explore a political position in the resolution of the crisis. Recently, former presidential aspirant, Gbenga Olawepo Hashim, during a visit to Turaki, said it is in the interest of the opposition party for the gladiators to sheath their sword. Hashim noted that resolving the crisis politically would better serve the survival of the party and the health of Nigeria’s multiparty democracy in the country, stating that the party already possesses the constitutional authority required to resolve the impasse, within a week, without resorting to litigation. He said “we can fix this problem, and we should,”
On his part, Turaki noted that the party believes that after the legal battles, they would be need for everyone to come together. According to him, after the legal battles, the PDP leadership would sit with aggrieved members, who are genuinely interested in reconciliation, saying that “We believe that even after these matters are resolved one way or another by the courts, that we’ll still come back, those that are still useful to this party. Those that have shown remorse, remarkable remorse and we are willing to now continue to be loyal party men and women, we will carry them along.”
All eyes on the court
At the moment, gladiators in the PDP crisis, as well as stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are waiting the outcome of appeals in the PDP leadership dispute, to know where the pendulum will swing. The INEC chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, at a recent parley with the two warring groups said the commission would await the appeal curt to decide the authentic leadership of the opposition party.
Also, a Federal High Court, in Abuja, on January 23 suspended further proceeding on a suit file by Mohammed and Anyanwu, seeking to nullify the Ibadan convention, pending the decision of the Court of Appeal in the various cases on the PDP crisis before it. Pundits say like what obtained in 2016 when the PDP faced a similar situation, the current tussle is likely to end at the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the participation of the Abdulraham led caretaker committee in a parley organised by INEC for political parties, last week, has further heightened tension in the PDP. The Wike camp, in the aftermath of the meeting said it serves as a recognition of the caretaker committee by the electoral umpire.
In fact, Anyanwu told journalists that the Wadata Plaza, which was sealed – up by the police, three months ago, would be re-open this week. According to him, “we will be going back to our office. Our party members are already happy because those who were concerned that we might not have candidates in the coming elections, it is now settled that the party will fill candidates from A to Z.”
However, the Turaki- led NWC, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, described the invite extended to the caretaker committee by INEC as vexatious, noting that the commission cannot choose a leadership for the PDP. He stated that “it is expected that an impartial umpire would have taken notice of the pendency of the matters in the Court of Appeal (including the judgment which they are relying upon), which when decided, will effectively affect the subject under consideration; and exercised restraint, therefrom.”
Ememobong warned that any attempt by the caretaker to access the PDP National Secretariat, would be a resort to self help “ and an affront to the time-tested principle of law that parties who have submitted to the jurisdiction of courts should not act in ways that will render nugatory, the powers of the Court.”
While Analysts say the outcome of the legal battles will determine the outlook of the PDP going forward, and ultimately the opposition party’s participation in the 2027 elections, a school of thought believes that the court verdict, depending on whose side is victorious, might not be the end of the power tussle in the major opposition parties ahead of the next general elections. Regardless, while the gladiators are earnestly awaiting the verdict of the appellate court, stakeholders are praying for a quick resolution so that the party can begin to re-organise itself for the 2027 contest.
