Days of the Long Knives for the PDP

Nigeria’s main opposition party is engulfed in a severe internal crisis. A major faction has moved to cancel the party’s national convention, creating a deep schism that threatens its very survival. Could this be the end of what was once Africa’s largest political party? Eshiorameh Sebastian examines the issues

The gates of Wadata Plaza, the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are locked. The usual hum of political activity has been replaced by an eerie silence, broken only by the presence of police officers standing guard. Inside, the empty chairs and deserted offices are a physical manifestation of a party tearing itself apart. This is no longer a political disagreement; it is an open war, a brutal struggle for the soul of what was once Africa’s largest political party. These are the days of the long knives for the PDP, a period of internal purging, one so vicious that threatens to leave the party a hollowed-out shell.

The trigger for this latest and most dramatic escalation is the party’s national convention, slated for Ibadan between November 15 and 16. But the convention is merely the prize in a war that began not months, but years ago. The roots of this conflict run deep, fuelled by a toxic mix of personal ambition, ideological schisms, and the towering, disruptive influence of the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike. To understand the current impasse is to trace the slow, painful haemorrhaging of the party’s lifeblood—its key figures and strategic strongholds.

The PDP’s descent into chaos can be charted through the loss of its once formidable pillar states. The party that once boasted a Solid South-South and a dominant South-East has watched this fortress crumble. The defection of Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2020 was a seismic early warning, a move that cracked the party’s foundation in the South-East. But it was the 2023 elections that exposed the rot.

The most stunning blow was the fall of Enugu State, a traditional PDP heartland for over two decades.

Akwa Ibom, another jewel in the PDP crown, was held by the skin of its teeth. The fierce battle there exposed deep internal fractures, with allegations of anti-party activities flying, many pointing fingers at Wike’s influence in undermining his own party’s candidate to curry favour with his new allies in Abuja. While Governor Umo Eno eventually secured the seat, the state was left politically bruised, its loyalty no longer a given. Eno, today has joined the APC family, leaving the party in the state a ghost of its old self.

Perhaps the most symbolic capitulation is unfolding in Rivers State. Here, Wike, the former governor and a PDP stalwart, now serves as a minister in the APC government while simultaneously controlling the PDP structure in the state with an iron grip. This schizophrenic allegiance encapsulates the party’s crisis: its key figures are no longer invested in its success. They have become political entrepreneurs, leveraging their influence within the opposition to secure power within the ruling party. The recent rumblings from Delta and Bayelsa suggest this trend is not an anomaly but a contagion. The PDP is not just losing elections; it is losing its very geography, its political territory annexed by a rival empire from within.

It is against this backdrop of territorial decay that the current battle for the Ibadan convention must be viewed. This is not merely a fight over procedures and dates; it is a fight for the remnants of the party’s soul.

Yesterday Wednesday 5th of October, just hours after the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) – its esteemed advisory body – met and urged the National Working Committee to proceed with the convention, a rival faction delivered a stunning shot. From a private office in Wuye, Abuja, far from the sealed party headquarters, a group led by a self-proclaimed acting national chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed, declared the convention dead on arrival.

The scene was a perfect tableau of the party’s division. While the BoT, including National Chairman Umar Damagum and BoT chairman Adolphus Wabara, gathered at the Bauchi State Governor’s Lodge, the Abdulrahman group convened with embattled party secretary Samuel Anyanwu. Two meetings, two factions, one party in name only.

Flanked by his supporters, Abdulrahman wielded a legal document: the Certified True Copy of a ruling from Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which had last week put the convention on hold.

Abdulrahman began by formally announcing that the PDP leadership under him, together with the National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, had obtained the official copy of the Federal High Court’s judgment from Justice Omotosho.

He then detailed the legal steps his faction had taken, stating that the party’s National Legal Adviser had thoroughly reviewed the judgment’s implications. Based on this legal advice, and in the name of due process and fairness, he confirmed they had filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal. He framed this action as necessary to seek clarity for the benefit of the party, its members, and Nigerian democracy.

Drawing this process to its logical conclusion, Abdulrahman declared that because an appeal had been filed, the faction was suspending and cancelling the planned Ibadan national convention. He stated that this decision was their responsibility to uphold the rule of law within the PDP and watned that proceeding with the convention would be an unlawful act that his faction would not tolerate.

Abdulrahman stated that his faction had formally notified the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of their position, instructing the electoral body to suspend the national convention in line with the Federal High Court’s judgment.

He then directly addressed the opposing faction’s legal strategy, acknowledging their awareness of a contrary ex parte order from an Oyo State High Court. However, he firmly asserted that such an interim order could not legally supersede the existing judgment from the Federal High Court in Abuja.

This legalistic trench warfare reveals a party that now communicates primarily through court filings and counter-filings, a far cry from the ballot box and the campaign rally.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the schism, the response was one of dismissive contempt. The Oyo State chapter of the PDP, loyal to Governor Seyi Makinde – who has fallen out with his former ally Wike – is the host of the embattled convention. Their publicity secretary, Micheal Ogunsina, did not mince words, dismissing the Abdulrahman faction as an irrelevant circus.

“We must stop listening to charlatans and political comedians,” Ogunsina said, his voice dripping with scorn. “PDP is one, and the National Chairman is Umar Damagum. We should not give life to suspended national working committee members. Their words hold no water, and they are wasting their time.”

He expressed unwavering confidence that the convention would proceed, a testament to the deep organisational roots of the Makinde-led faction in the South-West. “The NWC, BOT and all other organs of the party are working very hard to ensure that the national convention holds,” he stated, before issuing a warning that laid bare the raw personal animosities at play. “Those who are aggrieved in the party must understand that if the party leadership under Damagum and Wabara will be magnanimous in handling their misdemeanours, they must be humble with their excesses.”

The battle is not just over legal documents and conference venues; it is over the very physical space of the party. The locked gates of Wadata Plaza have become the most potent symbol of this conflict. Samuel Anyanwu, the factional secretary, provided a chilling justification for the lockdown, painting a picture of a party on the brink of violent implosion.

“When I arrived at the office to do my normal job on Monday, I was almost attacked by hoodlums,” he claimed. “Under the directives and instructions of Umar Damagu, the former PDP chairman, I heard them clearly asking the boys to attack. If not for the intervention of the police, most of the staff would have been murdered.” He concluded, “And for that reason, as the custodian of the office, as the secretary, I asked everybody to stay away. Let us find a lasting solution to make the place safer for our people to do their jobs.”

His account, whether entirely accurate or strategically amplified, underscores the depth of the distrust and the sense of existential threat each faction feels from the other.

Beneath the surface of this immediate crisis lies the spectral figure of Nyesom Wike. A former governor of Rivers State and a minister in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government, Wike’s influence over a significant bloc within the PDP has been the single most destabilising factor in the party since its defeat in the 2023 general elections.

His faction’s defiance is not merely an internal rebellion; it is a proxy war, with Wike wielding power from within the APC to ensure the opposition party remains hobbled and unable to present a united front. For Wike and his allies, a weak, fractured PDP is more valuable than a strong, unified one—it eliminates a credible threat to their new-found power in the APC and allows them to maintain control over their old domains as political warlords.

The implications are dire. For the PDP, this internal carnage threatens to permanently relegate it to the status of a perpetual opposition party, unable to get its own house in order, let alone present a credible alternative to the Nigerian people. The days of the long knives – are indeed here. It is a fight to the finish, where legal briefs are the weapons, courtrooms are the battlegrounds, and the very future of the party is the prize. With both sides entrenched and showing no signs of backing down, the PDP is not just facing a crisis; it is staring into the abyss, a once great political machine cannibalizing itself while its territories fall, one by one, into the hands of the enemy.