The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has explained why it did not resume activities at the party’s national secretariat on Monday, attributing the delay to ongoing administrative and security procedures linked to the reopening of the facility. Speaking in an interview, Jungudo Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee, dismissed claims that the police had denied the faction access to the secretariat.
Mohammed said he was unaware of any refusal by the police, adding that such claims were untrue. He noted that the police were the appropriate authority to clarify why the secretariat remained closed, stressing that the party could not compel them to act. Before the court ruling, PDP governors had backed the Ibadan convention, which produced Turaki and members of the National Working Committee for a four-year tenure.
Although the governors supervised the transition from former chairman Umar Damagum to Turaki ahead of the expiration of Damagum’s term on December 9, the Wike-aligned group went ahead to set up a 13-member caretaker committee on December 8. The committee appointed Abdulrahman Mohammed as acting national chairman, Samuel Anyanwu as acting national secretary and other officials for an initial 60-day period.
Attempts by both factions to hold a meeting at the PDP national headquarters, Wadata Plaza, on November 18, 2025, degenerated into violence, prompting the police to seal the secretariat, which has remained closed for nearly three months. After the Oyo State High Court in Ibadan delivered a judgement in favour of the Wike faction, the party announced plans to convene another convention to elect new national officers.
Following the ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission invited the Wike-backed faction to represent the PDP in line with the court decision. At the meeting, Samuel Anyanwu announced that the Wadata Plaza secretariat would be reopened for use by the faction on Monday, a move that was strongly opposed by the Turaki-led National Working Committee.
