PDP Forges Ahead with Convention Plans Amid Wike’s Ultimatum

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is plunging headfirst into a major internal crisis as it officially inaugurates its 2025 National Convention Organizing Committee today, just hours after a powerful faction led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, issued a stringent six-point ultimatum that threatens to derail the entire process.

The party announced that all is set for the inauguration of the 110-member committee, chaired by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, at its national secretariat in Abuja.

The event marks a critical step toward its Elective National Convention scheduled for November 15–16, 2025, in Ibadan, where new national officers will be elected to lead the party into the 2027 general elections.

However, this move towards unity and planning is starkly contrasted by a deep seated rift that erupted into the open in the early hours of Tuesday.

Following a late-night meeting at Wike’s Abuja residence, a coalition of influential party stalwarts issued a communique declaring that the convention would be “invalid” unless their conditions are met.

The group, which includes former Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, presented six non-negotiable demands to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC). Reading the communique, former Governor Ortom stated that the PDP must urgently “return to the path of equity, fairness and inclusivity if it hopes to remain a credible alternative for Nigerians.”

The demands are a direct challenge to the party leadership and include:

1. Holding fresh congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra states in compliance with court orders.
2. Conducting a new South East Zonal Congress.
3. Recognizing the outcome of the South South Congress in Calabar.
4. Conducting Ekiti LGA congresses as per court rulings.
5. Refraining from micro-zoning offices beyond the existing NEC zoning formula.
6. Most critically, ensuring the national chairmanship position remains zoned to the North Central.

This final condition is seen as a strategic move to protect the position of the current acting Chairman, Umar Iliya Damagum, who is from the North Central and is aligned with the Wike camp.

The communiqué left no room for compromise, warning that failure to adhere to these demands would “render any purported national convention invalid, as legitimate members of the party would be disenfranchised.”

The simultaneous occurrence of these two events—the party machinery proceeding with convention plans while a major faction issues a potentially crippling ultimatum—sets the stage for a high-stakes confrontation. It places the Fintiri-led committee in an immediate and difficult position, tasked with planning a unifying event amidst threats that could fracture the party further.