The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has rejected Saturday’s expulsion of prominent party leaders at a convention in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
This is even as four state chapters of the party have rejected the outcome of the convention, in what observers see as a revolt against Gov Seyi Makinde’s bid to exert his control of the party.
Over 3,000 delegates gathered in Ibadan on Saturday to elect new leaders for the main opposition party despite conflicting court orders.
PDP governors in attendance at the convention included Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Makinde (Oyo), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), and Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau).
During the convention at Ibadan, the party, following the adoption of a motion moved by its former Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Bode George, expelled Nyesom Wike, former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, ex-National Vice Chairman (South-South), Chief Dan Orbih and a handful of others.
But a Wike loyalist, Abdulrahman Mohammed, one of the expelled PDP leaders, dismissed the move as laughable and vowed to continue as Acting National Chairman.
Similarly, Umar Bature, who until recently was the PDP’s National Organising Secretary, said what took place in Ibadan was an act of illegality.
Meanwhile, the PDP, Southwest zone, on Sunday, lauded Gov Makinde for “rescuing the party from aggressors.”
However, the Rivers State chapter of the party, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by its Publicity Secretary, Kenneth Yowika, on Sunday, “hailed the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to boycott the illegal and invalid Ibadan Convention.”
Similarly, the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the party has dissociated itself from the Ibadan convention, describing it as “a recipe for crisis and destruction.”
In the same vein, the leadership of the Jigawa State chapter of the PDP has denied sending delegates to the Ibadan convention, stating, “These impostors do not represent us; Jigawa PDP is committed to genuine reconciliation and legal processes that unite, not divide, our great party.”
The PUNCH
