August 24, (THEWILL) — In the battle of wits among leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the prolonged crisis in the party, two camps have since emerged and lined up behind either Governor of Oyo State Seyi Makinde or the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike.
In their attempt to outdo each other, Makinde appears to be winning, while Wike frets.
After the noisy Southern stakeholders meeting held on Thursday in Lagos to deliberate on zoning arrangements ahead of the party’s national convention, a Makinde ally and Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal on Saturday hosted his fellow governors of the PDP in Gusau, “for a strategic meeting aimed at shaping the party’s direction ahead of its national convention.”
The Zamfara State Government said that the meeting would provide an opportunity for “leaders of the party to address pressing political issues, strengthen internal cohesion, and collaborate on developmental initiatives across their respective states. Additionally, the governors will discuss preparations for the upcoming national convention, organised by the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC), scheduled to take place in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, 2025.”
Though the governors attending the meeting – Makinde, host Lawal, Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Kefas Agba of Taraba, Usman Fintiri of Adamawa State, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State alongside BoT Chairman, Senator Adlophus Wabara and National Chairman, Umar Damagun – were still meeting as at the time of writing this report, an insight into the some of the considerations for the gathering was disclosed in Damagun’s brief address at a gala on Friday night.
After praising the governors as the best among the country’s governing elite, Damagun drew applause when he remarked that, “The party is above any interest, no matter who he is.” It is believed that jibe was thrown at Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who party sources say is trying to make the party in his own image.
In what a party source described as “battle for the soul of the party,” Makinde and the Wike, are said to be strengthening their respective camps as the build-up to the proposed national convention gathers momentum.
“Initially people believed that the governor and the minister were insincere in their fight, that they were playing games,” the reliable party source told THEWILL on Thursday, “but the dimension the fight has taken is polarising the party. Makinde wants to run for the presidency and he needs the party’s platform. Even if he eventually loses, he will emerge a leader of the party. Wike is opposed to it. And as serving minister, many believe he is also serving his master, President Tinubu’s interest.”
Makinde and Wike were strong allies in the G-5 Governors alongside Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Samuel Ortom of Benue State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who all worked against their party during the 2023 general election, having accused the former National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu of failing to relinquish the position to the South after Atiku Abubakar emerged presidential candidate of the party.
Although he is intensely canvassing for the zoning of the party’s presidential ticket to the South in 2027, “in fairness and inclusion and federal character principle, … after an unbroken eight years of Northern President under Muhammadu Buhari…” Wike has persistently rejected any suggestion that he intends to contest the presidency, saying that, “I will not contest. How will I contest against somebody I am working for.?”, while submitting that, “Nobody in the opposition can defeat President Tinubu in 2027.”
POLARISED NATIONAL WORKING COMMITTEE.
At present, members of the National Working Committee, NWC, are said to be polarised along the Makinde-Wike divide.
Among the 12-member NWC, Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, National Publicity Secretary, Debo Olgunagba, Deputy National Chairman, Toafeek Arapaja, South and National Woman Leader, Amina Darasimi Arong are said to be in Makinde’s camp. National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, are in Wike’s camp.
This division is said to be at the heart of the renewed crisis in the party. It is said to have caused lack of cohesion and infighting among members of the NWC such that the protection of the interest of their principals overrides the protection of the general interests of the party and its membership.
This hidden conflict has continued to dog the party, hardened members of each camp and has made fractionalisation a possibility, party sources say. After the warring parties differed strongly over the position of the national scribe and subjectively interpreted the Supreme Court ruling that recognised the supremacy of the party over the conduct of its affairs, the preceding reconciliation committee led by former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, was able to broker peace which restored embattled National Secretary, Anyanwu, to office. It was a decision that strengthened the hands of Wike’s camp.
The decision, it turned out, had been a result of adept information manipulation within the warring membership of the NWC, who pushed the narrative that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will not respect communication from the party’s Acting National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo NWC, who was directed to act as National Secretary in accordance with the party’s constitution under Section 36 (2) of the party’s Constitution, prior to Anyanwu’s reinstatement.
But by the time the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu reportedly said that the issue of party leadership offices, including that of the National Secretary of the party, falls within the purview of internal affairs of the party to which INEC has no role or determining power, the damage had been done. With that significant victory, embattled Anyanwu was said to have sworn to swim and sink with Wike henceforth.
The party source recalled when Anyanwu first “disobeyed Wike and vowed never to make that mistake again.” That was in 2022 shortly after the party held its National Convention where Atiku Abubakar emerged Presidential candidate of the party. Anyanwu was said to have ignored pressure not to sign the nomination form of Atiku as presidential candidate. Having emerged victorious from the crisis over his reinstatement with Wike’s staunch support, Anyanwu is said to be beholden to minister first and the party second, thus fuelling further division in the party.
GOVERNORS, NEC MEMBERS
Still Makinde, being a serving governor, is said to enjoy having almost all the nine PDP governors on his side, a majority of the state party chairmen, members of the Board of Trustee, BoT and former governors of the party.
The numbers showed up at the Thursday’s zonal consultative meeting held at the Legend Hotel, Ikeja, Stakeholders. In attendance were the party’s Zoning Committee and Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, Makinde, former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, and Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara, Deputy Governor of Enugu, Barrister Ifeanyi Ossai who represented Governor Peter Mba. Others were former Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; ex-Governor of Ebonyi Sam Egwu; ex- Governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel; former Speaker of Oyo State House of Assembly, Jumoke Akinjide, Dr Ali Odefa, Chief Emma Ogidi; Hon. Nnena Ukeje, Dr. Eddy Olafeso, Senators and Representatives.
In addition, the Southeast executive zonal committee of the party led by Enugu State Governor Peter Ubah, which had threatened to leave the party if their nominee for the position of National Secretary, Sunday Ude-Okoye, was rejected, is also said to be with the Makinde camp, hoping that the proposed Ibadan national convention will affirm their choice.
RENEWED HOSTILITIES
Hostility between both camps was ignited immediately after the NWC on August 15, 2025 inaugurated a 44-member zoning committee ahead of the elective national convention. Headed by Governor Diri, the committee is expected to allocate the various NWC positions to the geopolitical zones, which the NEC will review and approve.
The Wike camp immediately kicked against it, warning that the party should recognise the elective congress of the South south zone it conducted on February 22, 2025 in Calabar, where Chief Dan Orbih was re-elected. The NWC has ignored that request and instead continued to recognise the Emmanuel Ogidi led Caretaker Committee of the PDP in the Southsouth geo-political zone.
Even so, the Minister has continued to maintain his opposition unapologetically. Recently, he disclosed in a TV interview that he was not invited to the July 24, 2025 NEC meeting where the decision was taken to hold the National Convention in Ibadan.
“I am not aware that they are going to a convention in Ibadan. As a NEC member, I have not been informed, nor have I been invited to the NEC meeting,” the FCT minister said in an interview, adding that, “If the team members say they are holding NEC, so be it. If no notice of meeting has been served on me as a member of the NEC, I have every right to challenge that, and no one can deny me my rights.”
Party sources, however, confirmed otherwise. National Secretary, Anyanwu, was said to have conveyed the notice of the meeting to the FCT Minister and got a stamped and signed acknowledgement from the minister’s office dated the 18 of July, six days to the NEC meeting.
THE ZONING CHALLENGE
Though Makinde disclosed at a press briefing after the South zonal summit that the summit did not decide on the zone that should produce the 2027 presidential candidate, pointing out that there was “a need to have a party first before you start talking about a presidential candidate,” the mere fact of the party’s NEC agreeing to hold the proposed National Convention in Ibadan, Oyo State capital has further strengthened his hand in making crucial inputs into reshaping the party’s fortune.
According to him, in the absence of a party, anything being done will fall flat, saying that all efforts are now being directed towards having a viral and united PDP that Nigerians will be proud of and again will believe in.
For the Wike group, the refusal of the NWC to recognise the Dan-Orbih leadership of Southsouth zone of the party, is unacceptable as it completely weakens its hand in the event that its allies in the NWC are replaced at the proposed National Convention in November. Mobilising the members to make the desired impact is part of measures in achieving the camp’s desired goal for inclusion.
The members of the Wike camp that boycotted the South Stakeholders summit held in Lagos last week, describing it as “Illegal and exclusionary,” has further made its voice heard in the scheme of things.
Party sources described the Wike camp’s public opposition to the summit as part of the strategy to keep its membership together for the ongoing “battle for the soul of the party.”
According to the group in a joint statement signed by Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah, Venatius Ikem, Aniekan Akpan, and Aaron Chukwuemeka, who chair the PDP in Imo, Abia, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers states, respectively, vowed all necessary steps to resist the outcome of the meeting. Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, O. K. Chinda; Senators Mao Ohuabunwa, George Sekibo, Mike Nnachi; and former National Secretary Onwe S. Onwe are also member of this group.
“We call on the National Working Committee, the National Executive Committee, and all stakeholders of the party to disregard any outcome of the said meeting, which is not only illegal but divisive,” the camp warned, arguing that, “Decisions reached in secrecy and exclusion cannot and shall not assume the authority of consensus,” the statement read, accusing organisers of sidelining several state chairmen, national officers, and former governors from the South-East and South-South.”
On a larger scale, the fear of the potential danger posed by the decision of the PDP to zone its presidential ticket to the South is real in the Wike camp. Though there is as yet no objective fact to conclude or infer that President Bola Tinubu would be defeated in the South by any party which picks its presidential candidate from the region, the emergence of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, with a stronger presence in the North has weakened that calculation. In political calculation where every vote counts, the ADC’s emergence is redrawing the political map of the North where opposition was before now a social media thing, according to a pundit. In the event, analysts say that the President’s men would prefer a weak PDP to a strong PDP in the calculations ahead of the 2027 general election.
WAY TO CONVENTION
With Anyanwu’s reinstatement as National Secretary, the party is still mired in challenges. For instance, as required by law, he is the one who will issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, National Caucus and the NWC. Party sources say he is yet to notify INEC of the party’s proposed convention, roughly three months away.
In his reaction, Makinde, who dismissed the Wike’s camp description of the South summit as illegal, said the Lagos gathering was just a consultative meeting convened to unite all stakeholders and tendencies within the party ahead of future contests, arguing that the meeting was to strengthen internal democracy and preparing the PDP to reclaim its rightful place in national politics.
He said democracy is about the minority having its say and the majority having its way. The ongoing talks among leaders of the party, he insisted, is to try to get all stakeholders, all tendencies in the PDP together so that it can become a credible alternative to Nigerians in the years ahead.
“So, we’re democrats, the South has taken far-reaching decisions, and in the days ahead leading to our next meeting, wider consultations will also take place. So, in the days ahead, some of the things discussed here, you’ll see of course,” he said.
In a race against opposition to the proposed convention and zoning arrangement, the party leadership has lined up high-calibre meetings to resolve the ongoing challenges head on. After the governors meeting in Zamfara on Saturday, a National Caucus meeting will take place at the Bauchi Governor’s Lodge on Sunday ahead of the NEC meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow, Monday. A meeting by the BoT will precede the 102 NEC meeting.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
