PDP Crisis Deepens: Wike-Backed Faction Summons Emergency NEC, BoT Meetings

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has summoned emergency meetings of its National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) for Tuesday.

The meetings are scheduled to take place at the PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Abuja, not in Ibadan, where a parallel convention was held over the weekend.

A notice signed by Samuel Anyanwu, an ally of Wike, stated that the BoT is expected to convene at 11 a.m., with the NEC session fixed for 2 p.m. at the same venue. The party said attendance is compulsory because “crucial matters” will be considered.

This move is a direct counter to the convention held in Ibadan by a faction led by Umar Damagum, the immediate past PDP national chairman.

That convention concluded with the election of Kabiru Turaki as the new national chairman and, controversially, the expulsion of Wike, Anyanwu, former Ekiti governor Ayo Fayose, and several others.

The Ibadan convention also dissolved the PDP structures in Imo, Abia, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers states.

However, that decision has already seen splits, as governors Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, who were both at the Ibadan venue, have distanced themselves from the expulsion of the FCT minister.

Lere Olayinka, a media aide to Wike, shared the notice for the new Abuja meetings on his X page on Monday.

In a separate statement on Saturday evening, Olayinka dismissed the Ibadan convention and its decisions as irrelevant.

“They went to Ibadan to start dirty December in November,” the statement reads.

He added that “one can’t but ignore whatever comes out of their mouths” and that “they are free to say anything”.