11th December, 2025.
The leadership crisis rocking Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), intensified on Wednesday as National Chairman Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN) and Senator Samuel Anyanwu, representing the Wike-backed faction, traded accusations over which camp enjoys recognition from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The flashpoint came during a high-profile ceremony at Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, where Turaki presented the Certificate of Return to Dr. Oluwole Oluyede, the PDP governorship candidate for Ekiti State’s June 20, 2026 election.
Flanked by 30 state chairmen, National Assembly members, and party stalwarts dressed in colourful Ankara, Turaki insisted his National Working Committee (NWC) commands the support of all major stakeholders. He publicly displayed INEC documents bearing the electoral commission’s logo, claiming they confirmed his leadership’s legitimacy.
“These are INEC forms. They confirm that INEC recognises what we have done in Ekiti State. If INEC recognises us, then who can be against our leadership?” Turaki declared, challenging rival factions to present their own governorship candidate.
He added that all state chairmen, National Assembly members, founding fathers and former governors were present at the event, asking rhetorically who else was missing.
However, Senator Anyanwu, National Secretary of the faction aligned with Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, dismissed Turaki’s claims as “unfortunate” and “media hype” in an exclusive interview with The Punch.
“All these claims are just for optics. INEC has not recognised them. They did not attend the convention, and INEC knows who the genuine leadership is,” Anyanwu stated, insisting that the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led Caretaker Committee remains the authentic PDP leadership.
He challenged the Turaki group to explain why they were in court in Ibadan seeking an order to compel INEC’s recognition if the commission had already acknowledged them.
Anyanwu said INEC had been formally notified of the caretaker committee and received letters confirming the leadership change.
The rival factions emerged after PDP governors backed the Ibadan convention held on November 16, where Turaki and his NWC members were elected to four-year terms. The transition occurred before former Chairman Umar Damagum’s tenure expired on December 9.
Despite this, Wike and his allies continued to recognise Mohammed Abdulrahman as Acting National Chairman and Anyanwu as Acting National Secretary, announcing a 60-day caretaker committee last Sunday.
Dr. Oluyede, who secured 279 votes to defeat Funso Ayeni (239 votes) and Funmilayo Ogun (17 votes) in the November primary, pledged to restore good governance in Ekiti State. He appealed to aggrieved aspirants to withdraw court cases, describing them as “needless distractions.”
National Secretary Taofeek Arapaja criticized those who once declared the PDP dead but were now fighting to control it. “You can now see that the PDP is alive. The same party they said was dead is what they are fighting for,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro, represented by Senator Abdul Ningi, described the crisis as “man-made and resolvable,” while House Minority Whip Ali Isah pledged the caucus’s support for the Turaki-led NWC.
Earlier during a meeting with state chairmen, Turaki vowed to return the party to the grassroots, declaring that PDP would reclaim power in 2027. “Nigerians plead: if you cannot take us forward, take us back to 2015. But we will take power in 2027 and move Nigeria to the promised land,” he said.
The leadership dispute has plunged Nigeria’s main opposition party into uncertainty, with both factions claiming legitimacy while the electoral umpire, INEC, has yet to make a definitive public statement clarifying which leadership it recognises