The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has reportedly found itself entangled in a web of internal conflicts, exacerbated by a clash between founding members led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and emerging leaders within the party.
The discord has recently escalated due to a confrontation between former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and his successor, Sim Fubara.
Last week, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and the former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, clashed over the handling of the crisis in Rivers State.
Lamido, one of PDP’s founding members, had cautioned the party’s national leadership and the party’s NWC against abdicating their responsibility following the crisis between Fubara and Wike.
But the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement, accused Lamido of working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), describing his comments as unguarded.
It was reliably gathered that the plan to reconcile the various feuding factions of the party may have crumbled, and different court cases instituted by aggrieved members were further compounding the issues.
A party source said since the Supreme Court validated the election of President Bola Tinubu and discarded the appeal filed by Atiku, the party’s leadership has not been able to unite the various feuding factions.
He said the handling of the position of the national secretary of the party and the refusal by the NWC to call for a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to address grey issues were further escalating the crisis.
The party chieftain said until the various court cases were concluded or withdrawn, a new leadership might not emerge.
He warned that if the various crises were not resolved soon, the APC might take advantage of the situation to polarise the issues further.
“Since the PDP lost the presidential elections, it has failed to address the various issues affecting it. There are too many cases in court. The APC that should be in crisis has since put its house in order. But, the PDP has failed to act swiftly.
“Atiku is still there, creating a crisis because he wants to keep controlling the party. Other new generation members are not ready to allow him. Governors, unlike before, are so aloof and no one is taking serious steps to address the problems.
“The feud between (Nyesom) Wike and (Governor Simi) Fubara may snowball into something bigger. The PDP will suffer serious consequences if not properly handled, and the APC is waiting to benefit from the crisis.
“We need to hold a NEC meeting, have a convention to fill up vacant positions if need be or resolve all issues. But, the cases in court make that impossible. We need to act fast,” the party member who did not want to be named told Daily Sun.
However, there are also indications that the Supreme Court cases in the gubernatorial elections involving the PDP governors have stalled the search for a new national chairman.
A party source said the PDP governors, who were expected to have a decisive say in who replaces Iyorchia Ayu, were focused on pending gubernatorial appeals before the apex court.
Consequently, issues relating to the search for a new national chairman have been relegated to the background.
The PDP presently controls Edo, Osun, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Enugu, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Bauchi, Adamawa, and Zamfara states. Nine of the PDP governors, including the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Bala Mohammed, are currently in the Supreme Court battling to secure their seats.
The Court of Appeal has already affirmed the nullification of the election of Dauda Lawal and Caleb Muftwang as governors of Zamfara and Plateau states, respectively.
A source close to Atiku confirmed that party leaders agreed to keep the issue of a substantive national chairman for the opposition party in abeyance until the determination of all governorship cases involving the party at the Supreme Court.
He said: “The position of the party is that as soon as those election petitions are dealt with, they will look at those challenges and find solutions to them.”
Meanwhile, the PDP might hold a mini-convention in February 2024 to replace vacant offices in its National Working Committee (NWC).
A national official of the party said some PDP members were pushing for a mini-convention to enable them to fill vacant offices in the NWC and take decisions on other issues critical to the stability of the party in the aftermath of the 2023 general elections.
Also, recently, the PDP National Woman Leader, Prof. Stella Effah-Attoe, passed on.
The party official stated that if the party reaches an agreement on the mini-convention, it would essentially fill the vacant offices and address other pertinent issues.
His words: “We are looking at February next year. It is not a main convention; it is just a mini convention that will produce replacement for some of the offices. We have lost our national woman leader. We have replaced our deputy national woman leader.
“We are having issues with our national secretary. And there are people calling for the replacement of the national chairman. All of these issues are likely going to come up at the National Convention, subject to the approval of NEC.”
