As more than 3,000 delegates get ready to gather for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, pdp convention in the historic city of Ibadan, Oyo State, tensions inside the party’s factional camps are rising.
The two opposing factions of the party have been at odds over the event, which is scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2025.
The PDP Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees, and the Forum of State Chairmen, among others, support the National Working Committee, which is headed by Umar Damagum, the PDP’s interim national chairman.
Despite being outnumbered by the Damagum-led group, the group headed by Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike is powerful and has chosen its own chairman, putting the governors to the test.
Penultimate Friday, Justice James Omotosho rendered a decision prohibiting the party’s leadership from proceeding with the scheduled pdp convention. Additionally, it prohibited the Independent National Electoral Commission from keeping an eye on it, claiming that the PDP had violated its own regulations, which mandate that specific officers notify INEC of the convention.
Following the decision, the Damagum-led NWC suspended Senator Samuel Anyanwu, the National Secretary; Kamaldeen Ajibade, the National Legal Advisor; and Umar Bature, the National Organising Secretary, for a month due to alleged anti-party conduct.
Twenty-four hours later, Anyanwu and his camp met in Abuja and announced the suspension of Damagum and the entire NWC.
Abdulrahman Mohammed, the PDP Deputy National Vice Chairman (North Central), was also designated by the faction as the party’s new acting National Chairman.
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Last week, Justice Ladiran Akintola of the Oyo State High Court gave an ex parte order to the Damagum-led side, allowing the party to move forward with the pdp convention while the two camps square off.
As a result, Wike, Anyanwu, and others maintain that the pdp convention will not take place while Damagum, supported by the governors, BoT members, and state chairmen, is getting ready for it.
An official at the PDP secretariat who is privy to the situation told news correspondents on Sunday that over 3,000 delegates will assemble in Ibadan to choose the party’s new leaders.
He said, “More than 3,000 delegates are participating, and don’t forget that there are super delegates and elected delegates.
“Super delegates are former this and former that, and the PDP has many of them in every state of the federation.
“When you hear people whose only interest is to destroy the party saying that congresses were not conducted in some states and so those states are disenfranchised, it’s all lies because we still have many former members of this and that in those states.”
According to the source, who supports the Damagum-led group, the pdp convention will go place because Justice Akintola’s order is the most recent of the two contradictory court decisions.
“Anybody paying attention to the group is doing so for political reasons,” he added, noting that Anyanwu should be viewed as leading a rebel group after being suspended by the party’s leadership.
He asked the media to refrain from calling the Wike-backed group a faction, pointing out that “it must occur during a valid national convention of the party.” Instead of what Wike and his chief destroyers are doing, the members must rebel at the pdp convention ground on the same day and at the same location. There isn’t a division inside the party by law.
Also speaking, another official of the party with knowledge of the matter, said the outcome of a series of meetings during the week would point the way forward for the party.
Anyanwu boasts
Meanwhile, Senator Anyanwu has declared emphatically that the pdp convention would not hold. He stressed that if some party leaders went ahead with it, INEC would not monitor it.
In a telephone interview with The PUNCH, Anyanwu said, “The convention, if it holds, will amount to a contempt of court. Whoever is organising it will cause a problem for the party.
“Even if a governor organises it, it will be a nullity. The law has spoken and of course, INEC will not recognise it. I am the National Secretary of the party. There must be communication with INEC within 21 days for a convention to take place. This has not been complied with.”
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