The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is headed for a major internal showdown as tensions escalate between Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde ahead of the party’s August 2025 national convention.
Once allies who played a key role in President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 election victory, Wike and Makinde are now on opposing ends of a deepening rift that threatens to fracture the opposition party.
Wike, a PDP strongman, is alleged to be working behind the scenes to destabilize the party, possibly to smoothen the path for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election. He has mobilized a faction of the G-5 governors — minus Makinde — to press for the reinstatement of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary, despite opposition from PDP governors. His camp is also pushing for a southern presidential candidate in 2027 and a delay in the convention.
But Governor Makinde, backed by governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Peter Mbah (Enugu), is standing with the party’s national leadership, which insists the June 30 National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting and the August convention will go ahead as planned.
Prominent party elders, including Chief Olabode George and Senator Ibrahim Tsauri, have condemned Wike’s actions, warning that no individual can hijack the PDP. They maintain the NEC remains the supreme decision-making body and there will be no delay in the convention.
While Wike’s allies cite a Supreme Court ruling to back Anyanwu’s return, other party leaders, including PDP South West Vice Chairman Kamoru Ajisafe, say the matter has been settled by the National Working Committee with an Acting National Secretary already in place.
The Oyo State PDP chapter dismissed Wike’s recent Abuja meeting as nothing more than a gathering of “friends and followers”, pointing instead to Makinde’s meeting with PDP reconciliation chairman Bukola Saraki as more reflective of the party’s direction.
With both sides digging in, the battle for control of Nigeria’s leading opposition party has entered a critical phase. As the convention draws nearer, the PDP appears poised for a defining confrontation.
