PDP Crisis: Reconciliation Deadlocked as Turaki Faction Heads to Supreme Court
*Wike insists no one can stop party’s convention
Chuks Okocha and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Reconciliations within factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have failed as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the faction led by Tanimu Turaki has directed the party to head to the me Court for a final arbitration of the leadership crisis within the party.
This was due to the decision of the faction loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike hard-line position to appropriate all the leadership positions in the National Working Committee (NWC).
There are also signals that the proposed National Convention of a faction of the PDP led by Wike, may be stalled following fresh legal moves at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan.
But the FCT minister, who shed light on the upcoming PDP convention, vowed that the convention billed for March 29-30 would go ahead.
The NEC meeting was summoned by the Turaki-led faction to take a final decision on the way forward on the crisis and eventual harmonisation of NWC offices between the two factions.
Addressing journalists after the NEC meeting that took place at the Bauchi State Government Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary, Ini Emeombong of the Turaki faction blamed the decision to head to the Supreme Court on the hard line stance of the Wike’s faction.
He said, “As you are aware that other organs of the party are either advisory or act on behalf of NEC and so intermittently NEC must be scheduled so that the decisions taken by other organs on their behalf can be ratified or rejected by them.
“So at this meeting decisions taken by the NWC, decisions taken by the board of trustees, were deliberated upon and ratified.
Among those decisions, the decision to explore reconciliation, the decision ratifying the appeal to the supreme court, the decision to take necessary steps to ensure that the e-registration is successful, all of those were ratified and after exhaustive deliberations the NEC came to the agreement that the decisions were taken in utmost good faith and therefore without any dissension unanimously ratified those decisions and so that is why I’m here to brief you to know that the process of saving our party is on course and like we had said in our last press briefing that all hope is not lost.
“We are here today to reiterate that the NEC is satisfied with the disposition of the board of trustees and therefore ratified our decision to go to the Supreme Court. Though, we believe that there are still room for reconciliation.”
When asked whether the Wike group is not willing to make compromise in the reconciliation, he said, “Like I said, that negotiation is a destination and is a journey. At the point where negotiation begins, you see that people come to negotiations with hard-line positions.
“But the beauty of negotiation is in the seeding of grounds and time is a critical element in negotiation. So you find that parties who never sat before begin to sit. That negotiation is going somewhere. Immediately, parties previously opposed to sitting together agree to sit. And you can see that between November and today, that negotiation alone has created people who haven’t sat together, people who haven’t greeted each other have greeted. So it is the element of time to achieve the purpose of this negotiation, which is an agreeable consensus and even within the limit of time.
“It is only God can give an answer whether the negotiation will eventually work or not. Only God can give that answer. But our duty is to act in utmost good faith towards that destination. “
When asked to be specific, whether Ithe party is going to appeal the Appeal Court judgement, Emeombong said, “We had said that NEC agreed that it should be appealed. Remember that immediately after the judgement, the NWC met and directed the lawyers to file an appeal and I had confirmed to you previously that appeal had not just been filed, that appeal has been entered in the Supreme Court and all the concomitant applications, applications for accelerated hearing and all of that have also been filed, among others.
“But what we said is that the filing of this appeal does not inhibit the reconciliation processes. The moment agreeable terms are met, parties, I mean courts are usually very happy when parties approach them for discontinuance or withdrawal. So that appeal had been filed and other subsequent legal actions had been taken to protect the position of the party,” he stated.
Continuing, he said, “Yes, like we said, we do know that reconciliation is a journey towards a destination and so you measure it by movement. So movement is being done along that line, the destination of reconciliation will be met and you can bear with me that we have a situation of negative peace at the moment, at least a cessation of hostility. So you’re not finding both sides trading blames and hot tackles.
“You’re finding de-escalation in rhetoric, hurtful rhetoric and the rest. And so what is there is that the journey of reconciliation is on course, the journey of reconciliation, the bus has left the station, the train has left the station, but has it arrived at reconciliation? No. Has it passed some bus stations and train stations? The answer is yes.
Meanwhile, barring any further changes, the current members of the National Caretaker Committee of the PDP members loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Wike, may be adopted and ratified as the substantive National Working Committee, Nwc.
Indications to this emerged at the end of the emergency NEC meeting of the group in Abuja.
At the NEC meeting, it reaffirmed the zoning of the existing zoning of the critical offices of the NWC of the party.
The NEC meeting rejected the plans of the former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, to become the new National Chairman.
By implication, it means that the National Chairman of the party will come from the Northern part of the country, while the office of the National Secretary will come from the South.
Under the circumstances, therefore, the party zoning arrangements presupposes that Abdulrahman Mohammed will emerge as the National Chairman as he is from the North-central zone.
Also, the National Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, will become the substantive National Secretary.
In the same manner, the National Organising Secretary, Hon. Bature Umar who equally is the National Organising of the National Caretaker Committee will emerge as the substantive National Organising Secretary.
The National Legal Adviser of the National Caretaker Committee. Ajibade Adeyemi will emerge as the substantive national legal adviser of the substantive National Working Committee.
All these are subject for ratification by National Convention.
However, there are strong indications that the proposed National Convention of the Wike-led may be stalled following fresh legal moves at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan. The PDP faction filed a fresh appeal at the Supreme Court, dated March 27, 2026.
The Supreme Court appeal has the following references, SC/No/CV/1613/2925/, Suit no/ FHV/ ABJ/vs/2120/2925. It was filed Friday, March 27, 2026.
Court documents indicate made available to THISDAY show that a rival group aligned with Turaki has filed a motion seeking an injunction to restrain the holding of the convention, arguing that such action could prejudice proceedings in a pending appeal concerning the party’s leadership.
In the motion filed by Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, the applicants contended that proceeding with the convention would run contrary to the established legal principle that parties before a court must refrain from actions capable of affecting the subject matter of litigation.
The application reportedly urges the appellate court to preserve the status quo pending the determination of the substantive appeal.
In a related development, the Turaki group has also petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), advising the commission against monitoring the proposed convention.
In a letter dated March 26, 2026, and addressed to INEC, counsel to the group recalled that during proceedings on March 11, 2026, parties to the appeal, including the commission, indicated a willingness to explore an amicable resolution of the dispute.
The letter, however, expressed concern that some respondents in the appeal were taking steps to organise another convention despite the pendency of the matter in court.
According to the petitioners, any participation by INEC in the exercise could amount to an action capable of undermining the appellate process, particularly as the commission is a party to the suit.
They further disclosed that a motion had been filed seeking to restrain the commission from attending or monitoring the convention, pending the resolution of the appeal.
The group maintained that allowing the convention to proceed could create a fait accompli and complicate the issues before the court, which border on the leadership structure of the party.
It also urged the electoral body, headed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to act in fidelity to the law by refraining from any step
Wike who disclosed the decision to go ahead with convention, disclosed this yesterday while briefing journalists during an inspection of ongoing infrastructure projects that included the access road to the Mabushi bus terminal and the Arterial Road N1, connecting, Wuye, Dakibuyi and Mbora Districts across the city.
Wike noted that he was personally overseeing the venue preparations and had held constructive talks with the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed to ensure the event proceeded without hiccups.
“PDP has come to stay. People are angry and when a child is angry, you try to pacify him. But do not allow the child to destroy the house that you have built. We have discussed and agreed that the convention is non-negotiable regardless of internal opposition. Nobody will stop us”, Wike said.
