By Vincent Egunyanga, with agency report
A fresh round of confrontation is expected to unfold at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja on Tuesday as the two rival factions of the party schedule separate high-level meetings at the same venue and almost the same time, in a deepening leadership crisis that has defined the last week.
The faction led by the newly sworn-in National Chairman, Kabiru Turaki, has summoned what it described as the first formal National Working Committee (NWC) meeting since last weekend’s Ibadan National Convention, which produced the new leadership.
Turaki, who was sighted at the FCT Police Command on Monday, stated that he had formally notified the police to prevent a breakdown of law and order ahead of the meeting.
Turaki dismissed the parallel meetings being convened by the opposing bloc, describing them as illegal gatherings of “expelled interlopers” who no longer enjoy any constitutional standing within the PDP.
“Only the Ibadan convention has the authority of the party. Those planning their own meetings are no longer members of the PDP. After God, the National Convention is supreme, and we are ready to defend this democracy with our lives if necessary,” Turaki declared.
He said the party’s founding fathers had paid a heavy price for the democratic space Nigeria currently enjoys, insisting that the current leadership would not allow what he called “a group of restless power merchants” to derail the party at a critical moment.
*Our NEC, BoT remain valid; suspensions are nullities, Anyanwu insists
But the Muhammed Abdulrahman-led faction, backed by loyalists of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, also announced an emergency NEC and Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
The BoT meeting is fixed for 11 am, while the factional NEC will meet at 2 pm at the same Wadata Plaza.
The notices for the meetings were issued by the suspended National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, who rejected the decisions of the Ibadan convention, insisting they carried no legal weight.
“Our NEC and BoT remain valid. The so-called suspensions and the convention that purportedly produced new officers are nullities,” Anyanwu said.
The Abdulrahman/Wike camp maintains that the Ibadan convention was conducted in defiance of an existing court order and without the consent of constitutionally recognised organs of the party.
It argued that the Damagum-led NEC, which supervised the convention, lacked legitimacy after what they describe as a “rushed and faction-driven electoral process.”
The PDP secretariat itself has been under lock and key for most of the past week, following heightened tensions after the Ibadan convention and counter-suspensions announced by both factions.
Security agencies briefly took control of the complex on Sunday and Monday to prevent clashes between loyalists of the two camps.
Party insiders say Tuesday’s overlapping meetings may trigger an unprecedented test of strength, as both factions insist on occupying the same halls at Wadata Plaza—each claiming constitutional control of the NEC, the BoT, and the NWC.
With neither group willing to back down and both having mobilised their supporters to Abuja, security operatives are expected to maintain a heavy presence at the secretariat to avert chaos.
