The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday, told the two rival factions of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to urgently “put their house in order” ahead of critical off-season elections.

INEC gave the admonition during a meeting to which it summoned both PDP factions.

The session, which began mid-day, brought face-to-face the Tanimu Turaki-led bloc and the faction backed by Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, led by Abdulrahman Mohammed.

Turaki arrived with members of his National Working Committee, secretariat staff and former Niger State Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu.

Mohammed was accompanied by members of his caretaker committee, including Secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, told both sides that the Commission had been inundated with “various conflicting correspondences” from contending actors in the party, prompting the need for a joint dialogue.

Amupitan reads riot act

With the FCT Area Council polls and two governorship elections around the corner, INEC appears keen to avoid administering elections while the main opposition party remains fractured.

“We are determined to ensure that we follow the provisions of the law. We want to move forward as a family,” Amupitan told the factions.

“The FCT election is coming up on the 1st of February 2026, while the Ekiti election will be coming up in June 2026, and Osun in July 2026.

“We are on course to ensure that we have a very smooth election, but having received conflicting correspondences from the PDP, we felt that rubbing minds together would help forge the way forward concerning these elections,” he stated.

He stressed that INEC’s actions would continue to be guided strictly by law. “INEC sits on the tripod of three legal regimes—the Constitution, the Electoral Act and our Regulations. We are mindful of the need to maintain the sanctity of the Constitution, which is the grund norm,” he added.

Turaki

Speaking after the meeting, Turaki disclosed that his team had been invited “only last night,” and assumed the talks would centre on “housekeeping issues” earlier raised with INEC.

However, he said they were surprised to learn that “some former members of our party who had earlier been expelled were also invited.”

According to him, INEC explained that the presence of all parties was necessary “with a view to looking for possible solutions that will resolve what the chairman described as lingering problems within the PDP.”

Turaki said his faction had laid out its position clearly: “We made presentations of what we think the issues are, and INEC has listened to us. Even though these matters are before the Court of Appeal and have not been heard, INEC said they will look into what we submitted very seriously.”

He added that the Commission worked late into Thursday night assessing the situation of all parties.

“INEC is an umpire and will always want to conduct an election that is transparent and acceptable. Where major participants are unable to participate, it casts a dark shadow on the outcome,” he noted.

On whether the meeting recognized the authenticity of his faction, Turaki said: “When elders sit to settle a land dispute, they know who the legitimate owner is, but both sides must be heard so that no one claims they were denied fair hearing.”

Turaki also urged INEC to probe the roots of crises within opposition parties. “I wish INEC was in a position to make an inquiry into the sources of these conflicts being created in some leading opposition parties,” he said, insisting that his faction remained committed to holding the ruling APC “accountable to best practices, the rule of law, security, infrastructure decay, injustice and other issues affecting Nigerians.”

Wike camp

Senator Sam Anyanwu, who spoke for the Wike-backed Abdulrahman Mohammed group, insisted that the leadership of the PDP properly expired on December 9, 2025, creating a vacuum that justified the appointment of a caretaker committee by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees BoT.

“The life span of the leadership expired on December 9. A caretaker committee was appointed with Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed as Chairman and I as Secretary.

“The court nullified the convention in Oyo State, so there was no valid convention. Nature abhors vacuum”, he said.

He praised INEC’s approach, saying: “The INEC chairman is a man blessed with wisdom. The way they spoke to us showed that they really wanted us to continue to exist as the major opposition party.”

Anyanwu linked the PDP crisis to “greed, ambition and ego of some people,” but reassured supporters that “PDP is still PDP. Nigerians know that PDP has a mechanism for managing internal crisis, and we will come out stronger.”

He urge’ aggrieved members to return. “We are going to tell our brothers to come back home. Reconciliation means coming back and then we do a convention. Some of them might be lucky to emerge as leaders from their states, but for now, the only recognized body is the caretaker committee of the party”. (Vanguard)

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