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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is demoralised and feels helpless on how to resolve its festering crisis. Reliable sources within the party who spoke to Daily Sun said PDP leaders feel impotent in taking any action against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, due to fears of retaliation.
“If we sack Wike from the PDP, we are the ones who will suffer. Are you not seeing what the minister is doing to us? He will go and seal our office and revoke our certificate of occupancy because of N7 million. It is these kinds of things that are demoralising us. It is very clear that the All Progressives Congress does not want the opposition parties to function, so this is just part of the plan to snuff the life out of us. See what is happening in the Labour Party where they have three factions. Also, see what is happening in the New Nigeria Peoples Party. Can’t you see that it is following the same pattern?” one party insider lamented.
“People keep asking why we have not sacked Wike? Is it easy to sack him while he is the minister of the FCT? If we sack him, we won’t even be able to hold any meeting in Abuja. If we go to Legacy House, he will send people to send us out of there,” an insider added.
The crisis within the main opposition party has led to the defection of two of its governors, with Daily Sun reporting that more governors would still jump ship. However, despite the challenges, Daily Sun learnt that PDP officials are optimistic that the crisis would be resolved through their planned national convention scheduled for August in Kano. The party plans to hold a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on June 30, following their previous open meeting at Legacy House. Party officials describe the August convention date as “sacrosanct” and believe fresh leadership elections will automatically resolve the ongoing internal conflicts. “The only way forward is to have our convention in August. Once we elect our leaders, then he is gone. That is what we are planning, and it will work.”
Opposition stalwarts have laid part of the blame for the festering crises in opposition parties at the feet of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the statutory body for recognising political parties and their leadership. For instance, two months after the Governor Alex Otti of Abia State led a delegation to INEC to submit the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment over the leadership of the LP, the commission still has Julius Abure on its website as national chairman. Investigations by Daily Sun on INEC’s website on Sunday, June 8, showed that Abure is the national chairman.
A five-member Supreme Court panel had on April 4 unanimously given a judgment that quashed the Abuja Court of Appeal ruling that recognised Abure as the LP’s national chairman. The apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to confirm Abure as chairman of the party because the matter that led to the dispute concerned the party’s leadership, which courts had no jurisdiction over.
The court upheld an appeal filed against the judgment by Nenadi Usman, the party’s caretaker chairperson, who was appointed in September 2024. But Abure’s faction and Usman’s camp have interpreted the judgment differently, with each claiming that it favours them. However, the CTC showed that the Supreme Court overturned the rulings of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had recognised Abure as chairman. The apex court ruled that leadership disputes within a political party were internal issues. The judgment was delivered by a five-member panel, with Justice John Okoro’s lead judgment also dismissing Abure’s cross-appeal, describing it as unmeritorious, while accepting the main appeal brought by Senator Usman.
A lawyer, Abdul Mahmud, said on his X handle that as of March 26, 2024, Abure’s tenure had expired. So, he was in no position to hold the Nnewi Convention which elected him as national chairman. Mahmud said: “LP has to return to the status quo ante as of midnight of March 26, 2024, the night before the day Nnewi Convention was held. As of March 26, 2024, Abure’s tenure had expired. So, he was in no position to hold the Nnewi Convention. With the return to the status quo ante, the caretaker leadership should go ahead and organise congressional elections for a proper convention.”
However, on May 9, 2025, INEC clarified that it had not given recognition to either the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) or the Usman-led National Caretaker Committee (NCC). The commission explained that any names of national officers of the LP previously uploaded to their website were done following a court order not related to the latest Supreme Court judgment. Despite this clarification, the recent listing of George Moghalu as the governorship candidate of the LP in Anambra State for the November 8, 2025 election by the commission was seen as an endorsement of the Abure faction which nominated the candidate.
The NNPP also remains deeply divided, with three different factions claiming control of the party. There are currently three factions: the Rabiu Kwankwaso faction, which is controlled by the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections and considers itself the legitimate leadership. There is the Agbo Major faction, which announced the expulsion of Kwankwaso and others from the party, and there is the Boniface Aniebonam/Oginni Olaposi faction. Aniebonam is the founder of the party. On INEC’s website, the national chairman listed there is Ajuji Ahmed, who leads the faction aligned with Kwankwaso. His faction maintains that they are the legitimate leadership recognised by the electoral body.
The most recent court judgment regarding the NNPP leadership crisis was delivered by the FCT High Court in Abuja on Thursday, April 3, 2025. In the ruling, Justice M.A. Hassan dismissed the suit filed by Ahmed which sought to challenge the legitimacy of Aniebonam and Major on the grounds that it lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. The Aniebonam faction interpreted the dismissal of the Kwankwaso faction’s suit as an affirmation of their leadership. They also cite an earlier Abia State High Court ruling on November 1, 2024, that reportedly reinstated Aniebonam. Though the Kwankwaso/Ahmed faction acknowledges the dismissal of their suit, they insist that the court did not make any pronouncement on which faction holds the legitimate leadership and as such, Ahmed remains the authentic one as recognised by INEC. (Daily Sun)
