Kabiru Turaki-led NWC rejects Wike faction’s moves to take over PDP headquarters

The national working committee (NWC) of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP), led by Kabiru Turaki, has vowed to resist the plannedtakeover of the party’s headquarters in Abuja by a faction backed by NyesomWike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). On Thursday, Samuel Anyanwu, national caretaker secretary ofthe Wike faction, said the group would take over Wadata Plaza, which houses thePDP national secretariat. The party’s headquarters has remained sealed by the policesince a leadership crisis degenerated into violence at the premises last year. In a statement issued on Friday, Ini Ememobong, spokespersonof the Turaki group, said the party secretariat remains the subject of pendinglitigation. Ememobong said the group have written to theinspector-general of police and the FCT command, reminding them that thesecretariat is still a matter before the federal high court, Abuja, and thecourt of appeal. “To this end, any attempt to enter and occupy this propertywill be a resort to self-help and an affront to the time-tested principle oflaw that parties who have submitted to the jurisdiction of courts should notact in ways that will render nugatory the powers of the court,” the statementreads. “In this particular instance, the case pending beforeJustice Joyce Abdulmalik was instituted by the expelled members; they cannotresort to self-help until judgement is delivered in the matter.” He said any attempt to reopen the secretariat while the caseis still before the court constitutes contempt of court. On Thursday, the Turaki faction accused the IndependentNational Electoral Commission (INEC) of bias for inviting the Wike group to aconsultative meeting it held with political parties at its headquarters inAbuja. The opposition party is polarised into two factions. Last month, a federal high court in Ibadan, the capital ofOyo, nullified the national convention held in the state on November 15, 2025. In the ruling, Uche Agomoh, the presiding judge, declinedthe Turaki-led PDP’s request for an order to compel INEC to recognise thenational convention. Agomoh barred the Turaki-led NWC from parading itself as theparty’s leadership, saying the convention was organised in flagrant disregardof the court orders. The judge ruled that PDP cannot disobey court orders andthen approach the court to seek judicial approval for actions taken in defianceof those orders. The judge further held that the PDP can only operate throughthe caretaker committee until a proper and lawful national convention is held. Turaki, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), criticised theverdict, saying the judge granted reliefs that were neither requested norargued by any of the parties. Turaki said the party has filed a notice of appeal as wellas a motion for stay of execution of the judgement, adding that the conventionremains “legally intact, firmly in place, and fully committed to the ongoingrebirth” of the party. The convention was backed by Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo,and Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi. The national convention was preceded by a series ofconflicting court judgements, with some rulings from federal high courts inAbuja halting the event over alleged breaches of party constitution andelectoral laws, while the Oyo state high court in Ibadan cleared the PDP toproceed with the exercise and directed INEC to monitor it. Wike and his allies were expelled from the party at theconvention. The Wike group would later form a parallel NWC, a board oftrustees (BoT), and a national executive committee (NEC). In December, INEC rejected the request to recognise theTuraki-led NWC, citing multiple court judgements for its decision.

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