Wike-Backed Faction Holds First PDP NEC Meeting After Secretariat Reopening

The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has held its first National Executive Committee meeting at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, days after police unsealed the secretariat.

Video footage from the event posted on X by Wike’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, shows the minister arriving at the party’s national secretariat, Wadata Plaza, joined by other party elders and state representatives.

The PDP secretariat had been sealed in November last year after a violent clash between the Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee and the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led caretaker committee, with both factions laying claim to the party’s leadership.

Court judgment triggers reopening

An Appeal Court judgment in March invalidated the Ibadan convention that produced the Turaki-led leadership. The Mohammed-led faction, backed by Wike, relied on the ruling to conduct a separate convention in Abuja.

The NEC meeting was attended by members aligned with the Mohammed-led faction, including former Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, among others.

Following the reopening of the secretariat, the Turaki-led NWC accused the police of enabling what it described as an unlawful takeover of the party’s national secretariat by “APC apologists,” further deepening the leadership crisis.

Faction cries foul

In a statement, the faction alleged that security operatives “unsealed the National Secretariat of our party and aided its takeover and occupation by the agents of the Federal Government and APC apologists, masquerading as PDP members, despite a pending appeal.”

The party maintained that the police action undermined ongoing judicial processes, noting that the ruling by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja — upon which the police reportedly acted — had already been appealed.

“By their action, they have tampered with the res, and that can render the judgment of the Court of Appeal nugatory, when it is eventually given,” the statement issued by National Publicity Secretary Ini Ememobong said.

Sources: Punch, NaijaBlitz News, Very Nigerian, TheCable