October 26, (THEWILL) — As its National Convention, scheduled to take place in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, on November 15 and 16, 2025, approaches, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is still battling opposition within.
Shortly after combating the administrative threat posed by National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who petitioned the Department of State Services, DSS, the Inspector- General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declaring that his signature on August 29, 2025, letter to INEC as regards the Ibadan Convention, was forged, the party faces opposition from within to consensus candidature for the position of National Chairman.
The party’s National Working Committee, NWC, and the Board of Trustees, BoT, have insisted that the documents were duly signed by Anyanwu in the full view of several prominent party leaders.
According to National Publicity Secretary, Mr Ologunagba last Monday, Mr Anyanwu signed the letters including the one to INEC just hours before the 102nd meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) held on 25 August. Arguing that some governors elected on the platform of the party, witnessed the signing by Anyanwu – Governors Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and a former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki. Ologunagba added that during the NEC meeting, Mohammed, who is the Chairperson of the PDP Governors’ Forum, confirmed that all necessary letters, especially the one sent to INEC, had been signed by the National Secretary in accordance with the party’s constitution and due process.
Anyanwu is an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike. His allegations point to the prolonged rivalry between the minister and the PDP Governors Forum. On Friday, the minster joined the pre-convention fray.
Speaking during a monthly media parley with journalists in Abuja on Friday, Wike also denied claims that he had endorsed former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, as the consensus candidate for the position of PDP National Chairman.
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman. Maybe he’ll become chairman of another faction, but not the PDP I know,” Wike stated.
He further questioned the legality of the party’s planned convention, insisting he would not participate in a process he considered unlawful.
“How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law does not exist?” he asked “The problem is that some people think being governors gives them the right to do anything. You hold crucial meetings without inviting certain leaders and expect unity? You will only end up with factions.”
Following the party’s decision to zone the Chairmanship to the North after it ceded the presidential ticket for the 2027 poll to the South, some aspirants had emerged to contest the position. They included former governors of Kaduna and Jigawa States, Ahmed Markafi and Sule Lamido as well as former Minister, Saminu Turaki.
At a consultative meeting held in Abuja, last Wednesday, leaders and stakeholders in the North, agreed to micro-zone the office of Chairman to the North-West and also “unanimously” endorsed the choice of Turaki as the consensus candidate.
According to Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, a key stakeholder from the North and Chairman of the Convention Organising Committee, NCOC, the decision of the region after the meeting, Turaki was unanimously chosen as the consensus candidate.
“We have met this evening to deliberate and take a decision on the office of the chairman of our great party, the PDP, which was zoned to the North.
“In our meeting, we have reflected deeply and widely through consultation and going to Ibadan for our national convention, we have adopted a consensus candidate to represent the North and by extension, Nigeria, as the chairman of the PDP,” he said, adding, “That gentleman is KT Turaki, SAN. This is our decision this evening and he is the person we are presenting at that convention as our chairman to represent our party, on the 15th and 16th of November in Ibadan”, he announced to reporters at the venue of the meeting.
Apart from Wike, who had kicked against Turaki’s nomination, some stakeholders from the North-West have faulted the selection process.
Their spokesperson, who is also the outgoing National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature said that Turaki imposed the choice on the zone without due consultations with relevant stakeholders.
Bature alleged that the leaders from the zone had been sidelined from the decision- making process by Governor Fintiri.
“This meeting was at the instance of the Governor of Zamfara with a view to adopting a particular individual for the national chairmanship position zoned to the North-West. A meeting was held yesterday with other leaders of the northern zones and the name of an individual was reportedly adopted,” he said.
According to him, the North-West has not met to agree on that position.
“So, what we want to make clear to everybody is that this zone has not adopted anybody as a candidate from this zone for the Peoples Democratic Party.There is a lot of resentment due to a lack of consultation among the leaders of this zone. We believe we are the strongest zone in the PDP and the attitude of our leaders in this regard made us to take this position that we disagree with the governor’s position of yesterday and we are going to have our own candidate that we will nominate for that position. North-West is the zone to which the national chairmanship has been zoned.
“This position has been determined by other zones, and we feel it is unfair for other zones to determine a particular candidate when this zone has not been consulted. That’s why we are taking this position.”
He added that Fintiri, who is from the North-East, cannot choose for the North-West.
“We are all stakeholders here. We are all party chairmen. We are all members of the National Assembly. None of us was consulted. We were at the meeting when these positions were zoned to the North West.
“So, if Governor Fintiri can adopt his own in the North-East, why can’t we, stakeholders of the North West, be allowed to sit down and adopt our own candidate? I present him to you”, he added.
How Bature hopes to stop the choice of Turaki remains to be seen. One of the major stakeholders from the North-West who participated in the meeting where Turaik was chosen as consensus candidate is Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, the only PDP state in the Northwest. Besides, other witnesses at the meeting included stakeholders from the zone and state governors within the party.
Apart from Fintiri, others in attendance are the National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum; the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed and his counterparts in Plateau State, Caleb Muftwang; Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal; Taraba State, Agbu Kefas; and Secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Ahmed Makarfi. Others are Minority Leader of the Senate, Abba Moro; and former President of the Senate, Olusola Saraki, Sule Lamido, Professor Jerry Gana, Senator Hassan Dankwambo, Ibrahim Shekarau, Mike Omeri, Humphrey Abba, and Mohammed Goronyo.
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