PDP Crisis: Rival Factions Set for Clash as Wike Group, New NWC Schedule Meetings at Same Venue
A clash appears imminent within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as two rival factions have scheduled conflicting meetings at the national secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Abuja for Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, a faction loyal to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, led by Abdulrahman Mohammed, summoned an emergency session of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT).
According to a notice from Samuel Anyanwu, the faction’s BoT meeting is slated for 11 a.m., with the NEC following at 2 p.m. at the same location. The group insisted attendance is compulsory to address “crucial matters”.
However, Kabiru Turaki, the national chairman elected at Saturday’s convention in Ibadan, declared that his leadership would proceed with its own inaugural NEC meeting at the same venue.
Speaking to journalists after submitting a petition to the police, Turaki dismissed the rival faction’s notice, stating that they are “no longer members of this party” following their expulsion.
“We intend to have an interface with the commissioner of police of the FCT regarding the meeting that we have planned for Wadata tomorrow,” Turaki said.
“We are going to have the inaugural national working committee (NWC) meeting of our party… Our meeting is at 10 a.m. tomorrow; we shall be there unfailingly, and I, as the national chairman of PDP, will be leading from the front, not from the rear”.
Turaki vowed that nothing would stop them from accessing the secretariat.
“Our offices are now open; we are going there… we will get in there and begin to perform the functions for which we were elected.
“Let me reiterate again, for the avoidance of doubt, to defend our party, to defend this nascent democracy, we are prepared to lay down our lives,” he said.
He added that the police had assured him that adequate security would be deployed to prevent any breakdown of law and order.
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