By Eshioromeh Sebastian
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was thrown into fresh chaos on Thursday as two factions of its Board of Trustees released conflicting statements claiming authority over the party, hours after a Supreme Court judgment annulled the party’s Ibadan convention. The ruling, which did not explicitly endorse either side, has left both factions claiming the other has no legal standing.
The crisis took a dramatic turn when Senator Adolphus Wabara, who has long acted as BoT Chairman, issued a statement declaring that the Board had assumed national leadership of the party to prevent a vacuum.
But almost immediately, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa released a rival press statement insisting that the leadership structure under Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed as National Chairman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary “remains the valid and stabilizing authority.”
The result is a party in complete disarray, one BoT chairman claiming to have taken over, another insisting the existing leadership stays. And neither is backing down.
Wabara’s statement, issued on the evening of April 30, 2026, argued that the Supreme Court judgment had invalidated both the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee produced by the Ibadan convention and the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led caretaker committee that emerged from the March 29, 2026 convention in Abuja .
“The implication of today’s judgment by the Supreme Court is that all actions taken by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Umar Bature and Barr. Kamaldeen Ajibade including the appointment of Abdulrahman Mohammed as Acting National Chairman, the composition of the National Caretaker Working Committee and the conduct and outcome of the March 29th, 2026 Convention in Abuja are illegal, null and ab initio void,” Wabara declared .
He argued that with both leadership structures nullified, the BoT must step in as the “second highest organ of the party” under Section 32(5) of the PDP Constitution . He directed all party staff to resume at the national secretariat under BoT supervision and announced plans to summon an emergency NEC meeting to appoint an interim National Working Committee .
But Ohuabunwa’s counter-statement rejected this entirely.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the judgment of the Supreme Court simply affirms the earlier decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal nullifying the purported National Convention of the Party held on the 15th and 16th of November 2025 in Ibadan, Oyo State,” Ohuabunwa’s statement read .
He insisted that the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led NWC “remains the valid and stabilizing authority to guide the affairs of the Party at the national level” and called on the NWC to constitute a National Reconciliation Committee .
Wike: ‘There Are No More Factions in PDP’
In a dramatic intervention, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike held a press conference at his residence in Abuja shortly after the judgment, declaring that the Supreme Court ruling had brought an end to all claims of factional leadership within the PDP .
“The Supreme Court judgment has now made it known there is only one PDP, and we no longer hear faction,” Wike declared. “Faction does not exist any longer in the People’s Democratic Party” .
The former Rivers State governor maintained that the apex court ruling had settled issues surrounding factional divisions in the party, arguing that the dismissal of the Turaki appeals had dealt a collateral blow to any political calculations built around that platform .
“PDP has gone to rest,” Wike said .
But it was his remarks about former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Senate President David Mark that drew the sharpest reactions. Asked about the political future of prominent figures who had abandoned the PDP for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) during the crisis, Wike was categorical.
“My brother, Mark, and my friend, Atiku, who are not here now, are holding a coalition meeting. We are not part of that. I don’t know where they will be heading to now,” he said .
Wike insisted that those who left the party for the ADC in the heat of the internal crisis were not candidates for a reconciliatory return. He drew a distinction between members he described as “natural inhabitants” of the party — people who had drifted away out of uncertainty over who held the authority to sign nomination forms — and those he regarded as principal actors in the attempted takeover .
“Those who originally left from the outset, who wanted to bring the people with natural liabilities into the party, we don’t want to take those ones back,” Wike said .
The minister also addressed questions around the status of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as PDP National Secretary, dismissing suggestions that any court ruling had legitimately suspended or removed him. He said the committee that recommended Anyanwu’s suspension had produced a report that was never ratified by the appropriate party organ, rendering the suspension legally inoperative .
Speaking personally about some of his rivals within the party, Wike did not hide his disdain.
“Not that I don’t like the party, I hate the individuals involved. I don’t like them. They are part of the people that have plunged Nigeria into problems,” he said .
What the Supreme Court Actually Said
The Supreme Court delivered a split decision on Thursday, with a three-to-two majority voiding the November 2025 Ibadan convention that produced the Turaki-led NWC . Justice Stephen Jona Adah, who read the lead majority judgment, held that the convention was conducted in “flagrant disobedience” to a Federal High Court order that had halted the exercise .
The apex court found that the PDP had proceeded with the convention despite a restraining order obtained by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, who had sued the party for denying him a nomination form to contest for national chairman . Rather than obey the court, the party went to a High Court in Oyo State to secure a favorable ruling — a move the Supreme Court condemned as “forum shopping” and an abuse of court process.
Justice Adah ruled that “the product of the Convention having been held in disobedience to lawful order of court was fraudulent and should have no place in law” .
However, Justices Haruna Simon Tsanami and Abubakar Sadiq Umar dissented, arguing that the dispute was an internal party affair that courts should not have entertained in the first place .
The court also unanimously upheld the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Umar Bature, and Barr. Kamaldeen Ajibade — the National Secretary, National Organising Secretary, and National Legal Adviser respectively .
Notably, the Supreme Court did not expressly validate the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led structure. This legal ambiguity is precisely what both BoT factions are now exploiting.
Governors’ Faction: ‘Our Party Must Not Die’
In a significant development late Thursday, a faction of PDP governors and critical stakeholders threw their weight behind Wabara, declaring in a communique that “our party must not die.”
At an emergency stakeholders’ meeting convened after the Supreme Court ruling, the group — comprising PDP governors, Board of Trustees members, National Executive Committee members, former ministers, and state chairmen — issued a statement acknowledging that the judgment “clearly leaves the party without any recognised leadership, as both groups previously laying claims to the leadership have been divested of all interests by this judgement.”
The stakeholders declared they were “not opposed to” Wabara’s takeover and urged the BoT to immediately convene a National Executive Committee meeting “to take decisions as to the leadership of the party and undertake steps preparatory to activities for candidates’ selection towards 2027 general elections.”
In a passionate appeal, the group warned against turning the PDP into a subsidiary of the ruling party: “Democracy thrives when there is a vibrant and capable opposition, which aligns with the wishes and interest of the people, not with the government.”
The communique promised swift action and declared: “By God’s grace, our party will not die, it will not be handed over to those who want to hold it down for the APC, or those who want to trade and negotiate with it. Like the phoenix, we will surely rise again.”
Wike vs The Governors: A Party at War
The chasm between Wike’s position and that of the governors’ faction could not be wider.
While Wike insists the party already has a valid leadership under Abdulrahman Mohammed and that “faction does not exist any longer,” the governors’ faction argues that both the Turaki and Mohammed structures have been “divested of all interests” by the judgment, leaving a vacuum that only the BoT can fill.
Wike has dismissed the possibility of accommodating the Turaki-Makinde faction, suggesting that governors Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammed now face an uncertain political future. “I don’t know where they are going to pitch their tent,” he said .
On the other hand, the governors’ faction has declared that the party “will not be handed over to those who want to hold it down for the APC” — an apparent reference to Wike, who serves in President Tinubu’s cabinet while claiming to remain a PDP member.
What Happens Next
The PDP now faces a dangerous constitutional crisis. Two BoT chairmen are issuing directives. The FCT Minister has declared the matter settled while governors insist the party is leaderless. And the national secretariat in Abuja will have to decide whose instructions to follow.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will ultimately have to recognize one leadership structure for the purpose of the 2027 elections. But for now, the commission is likely to watch from the sidelines as the PDP tears itself apart.
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