PDP struggles for survival, assigns mediation committees on NEC meeting, National Convention

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has set up machineries for the party’s survival, appointed mediation and reconciliation committees on moving the party forward towards having peaceful National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and National Convention between July and August.

While the reconciliatory committee is led by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, leads the seeming mediation committee, known as The Way Forward Committee.

In the struggle for survival, the PDP is reinforcing its political machine with serving and former governors, who still members of the party, to provide the stimulus for reunification and reintegration of party members.

The PDP has been laid back since 2023 in rebuilding the party structures and repositioning its leadership. This has exacerbated the internal rivalries in the party without significant leadership structure to intervene or reconcile warring factions and conflicting interests.

The party has set May 27, 2025, for its National Executive Committee meeting, while scheduling its National Convention for August 2025. New party leaders or members of the National Working Committee (NWC) would be elected at the National Convention to run the administration of the PDP with defined leadership structure.

The PDP has been contending with diverse crises since the 2023 general elections. Former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, now FCT Minister, has led strong internal opposition in the party, including the political conflicts in Rivers State with the governor.

Currently, the party is encountering the storm of defections by notable members, including the Governor of Delta State and the entire political structure of the party in the state; as well as lawmakers in several states to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In every defection, the PDP is depleted, loses human and financial resources, as well as political structures requisite for mobilization, to the beneficiary APC.

Besides, the Rivers State crisis which culminated into the proclamation of State of Emergency and suspension of the governor and legislature by President Bola Tinubu, there is the power tussle between Samuel Anyanwu and Sotonji Kodesho over the PDP National Secretary. Anyanwu insists on being the National Secretary in defiance of court judgements, while the PDP Governors Forum elevated Sotonji Kodesho from deputy national secretary to Acting National Secretary.

More so, the status of the PDP Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, in terms of signing of documents presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been generating apprehension within the party. This may be resolved with the emergence of a substantive national chairman at the national convention in August.

Meanwhile, after the last Sunday meeting, former President of the Senate, Dr. Saraki, in his verified X handle stated: “I just left a meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum, attended by its serving and former governors, at the Bauchi Governor’s Lodge. We had a fruitful deliberation on the party’s present challenges and its future.

‘’The meeting was well attended. As part of the decisions taken to chart a way forward, the meeting set up a seven-man committee charged with preparing for a rancour-free NEC meeting scheduled for May 27th and the forthcoming national convention.

‘’The committee is headed by my humble self, and I will have the pleasure of working with my brothers –  Dauda Lawal, Caleb Muftiwang, and Peter Mba, governors of Zamfara, Plateau and Enugu States, respectively. Other members are Senator Seriake Dickson, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, and former governor of Abia State, Chief Okezie Ikpeazu.

‘’We hope to do our best in delivering on the assignment given to us. Label it “PDP Strategy Committee On Way Forward”.

However, the issue of zoning of the presidency to the South, which triggered intractable conflict of interests in the 2023 general elections, with the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as PDP presidential candidate, and the retention of Iyorchia Ayu as national chairman, remains contentious in the party.

Wike who led the agitation in the PDP, is still warning against giving the PDP presidential ticket to a northern candidate in the 2027 elections.

The PDP is bleeding in divers ways, losing steam and stature in Nigeria’s political landscape. This has created herculean tasks for the reconciliation and mediatory “PDP Strategy Committee On Way Forward” committees in their respective assignments.

PDP struggles for survival, assigns mediation committees on NEC meeting, National Convention.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has set up machineries for the party’s survival, appointed mediation and reconciliation committees on moving the party forward towards having peaceful National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and National Convention between July and August.

While the reconciliatory committee is led by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State, former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, leads the seeming mediation committee, known as The Way Forward Committee.

In the struggle for survival, the PDP is reinforcing its political machine with serving and former governors, who still members of the party, to provide the stimulus for reunification and reintegration of party members.

The PDP has been laid back since 2023 in rebuilding the party structures and repositioning its leadership. This has exacerbated the internal rivalries in the party without significant leadership structure to intervene or reconcile warring factions and conflicting interests.

The party has set May 27, 2025, for its National Executive Committee meeting, while scheduling its National Convention for August 2025. New party leaders or members of the National Working Committee (NWC) would be elected at the National Convention to run the administration of the PDP with defined leadership structure.

The PDP has been contending with diverse crises since the 2023 general elections. Former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, now FCT Minister, has led strong internal opposition in the party, including the political conflicts in Rivers State with the governor.

Currently, the party is encountering the storm of defections by notable members, including the Governor of Delta State and the entire political structure of the party in the state; as well as lawmakers in several states to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In every defection, the PDP is depleted, loses human and financial resources, as well as political structures requisite for mobilization, to the beneficiary APC.

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Besides, the Rivers State crisis which culminated into the proclamation of State of Emergency and suspension of the governor and legislature by President Bola Tinubu, there is the power tussle between Samuel Anyanwu and Sotonji Kodesho over the PDP National Secretary. Anyanwu insists on being the National Secretary in defiance of court judgements, while the PDP Governors Forum elevated Sotonji Kodesho from deputy national secretary to Acting National Secretary.

More so, the status of the PDP Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, in terms of signing of documents presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been generating apprehension within the party. This may be resolved with the emergence of a substantive national chairman at the national convention in August.

Meanwhile, after the last Sunday meeting, former President of the Senate, Dr. Saraki, in his verified X handle stated: “I just left a meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum, attended by its serving and former governors, at the Bauchi Governor’s Lodge. We had a fruitful deliberation on the party’s present challenges and its future.

‘’The meeting was well attended. As part of the decisions taken to chart a way forward, the meeting set up a seven-man committee charged with preparing for a rancour-free NEC meeting scheduled for May 27th and the forthcoming national convention.

‘’The committee is headed by my humble self, and I will have the pleasure of working with my brothers –  Dauda Lawal, Caleb Muftiwang, and Peter Mba, governors of Zamfara, Plateau and Enugu States, respectively. Other members are Senator Seriake Dickson, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, and former governor of Abia State, Chief Okezie Ikpeazu.

‘’We hope to do our best in delivering on the assignment given to us. Label it “PDP Strategy Committee On Way Forward”.

However, the issue of zoning of the presidency to the South, which triggered intractable conflict of interests in the 2023 general elections, with the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as PDP presidential candidate, and the retention of Iyorchia Ayu as national chairman, remains contentious in the party.

Wike who led the agitation in the PDP, is still warning against giving the PDP presidential ticket to a northern candidate in the 2027 elections.

The PDP is bleeding in divers ways, losing steam and stature in Nigeria’s political landscape. This has created herculean tasks for the reconciliation and mediatory “PDP Strategy Committee On Way Forward” committees in their respective assignments.