24 Hours To Crucial NEC Meeting: Fresh Crack In PDP

• Wike withdraws from peace accords

• Blames Makinde

• Vows to fight on till justice is served

• Claims credit for most PDP governors’ election

• Controversy rages over national secretary

About 24 hours to a make-or-break National Executive Committee (NEC), a fresh crisis has hit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike blowing open cracks in the G5.

The supremacy tussle within the bloc, which comprised five governors elected on the platform of the PDP in the last dispensation, has led to the minister alleging betrayal and breach of agreements among the stakeholders in PDP in the effort to restore peace to the leading opposition party in the country.

The internal crisis took the dramatic turn when Wike pulled out of all reconciliation agreements, accusing an ally in the G5 and current Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, of stoking the party’s instability.

In a strongly worded statement released on Sunday titled: “PDP Crisis: My Position,” Wike, a founding member of the PDP and a key figure in the G5 group of aggrieved governors, said persistent dishonesty, betrayal, and failure to uphold internal agreements have crippled efforts to stabilise the party’s position going into the 2023 general elections.

“Since after the 2023 General Election, the PDP has been wantonly swinging from one part of a slippery precipice to another, finding fundamentally no dishonest lack of trust among key stakeholders,” Wike declared.

The former governor fingered Makinde, once a close ally and G5 member, for deliberately breaching multiple accords during recent high-level meetings involving PDP stakeholders.

He accused Makinde of engineering a campaign to replace Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the PDP’s National Secretary, despite a Supreme Court judgment affirming Anyanwu’s position.

Wike also alleged that Makinde, in collaboration with Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah, convened a controversial South-East leaders’ meeting that threatened to pull the region out of the PDP if Uche Secondus was not reinstated as Secretary.

“Makinde is the architect of our problems. He connived with other close-in men now within the other divisions. The resolution of the South-East leaders cannot stand,” Wike said.

Wike recounted a series of meetings – including an expanded session at former Senate President Bukola Saraki’s guest house in Abuja – where key figures such as Governors Bala Mohammed, Ahmad Fintiri, and Makinde himself attempted to chart a new course for the party.

Resolutions from the Abuja meeting included the recognition of Anyanwu as National Secretary and the drawal of all legal matters relating to Rivers State, and the formation of a reconciliation committee chaired by Saraki.

But Wike said those agreements were flouted even before implementation began.

“It’s before the Bukola Saraki Reconciliation Committee began work, the gentleman’s agreement reached was already being crudely violated.”

He cited the example of a botched PDP zonal congress in Jos, Plateau State, which NEC refused to attend because the invitation was signed by the Deputy National Secretary instead of the recognised National Secretary, in violation of party protocols.

Expressing deep frustration, Wike said he has endured repeated provocation and betrayal despite his long-standing contributions to the party.

“I’ve been in this party since 1998. It is on record that none of these persons have done anything close to what I have done to sustain this party,” he said. “Yet, I have not made any personal demand on any slot.”

The minister said he had hoped unity would prevail and loyalty could be preserved within the G5, but had now come to the conclusion that “they would continue to play games to the detriment of the party.”

“The reason why I decided to pull out of all agreements that I hitherto reached. I have decided to fight on until justice is attained,” Wike declared.

Wike’s withdrawal from peace efforts and his condemnation of Makinde marks a critical rupture within the party top echelon.

The fallout could further destabilise the PDP ahead of off-cycle governorship elections and the broader 2027 political cycle.

Political observers say the rift could lead to renewed factional battles within the PDP, leveraging his national influence to push back against what he views as betrayal.

The NEC meeting of the PDP is expected to meet on Tuesday, where these tensions are likely to come to a head.