BACKGROUND

On July 24, the PDP’s national executive committee (NEC)
approved November 15 and 16 for the election of new national working committee
(NWC) members.

The NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the PDP,
comprising state governors, serving and former presidents, former
vice-presidents, the chairman and secretary of the board of trustees (BoT),
principal officers of the national assembly, all state chairpersons, members of
the NWC, former governors, and founding members, among others.

On Wednesday, Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital
territory (FCT), said he was not invited to the NEC meeting, where the members
approved Ibadan, Oyo state capital, as the venue for the national convention.

“I am not aware that they are going to a convention in Ibadan.
As a NEC member, I have not been informed, nor have I been invited to the NEC
meeting,” Wike said.

Wike also threatened that the internal wrangling in the PDP would
not be over until the party recognises the outcome of the south-south zonal
congress held in Calabar, the capital of Cross River state.

The south-south zone of the PDP had, on February 22,
re-elected Dan Orbih, an ally of Wike, as its chairman.

The PDP NWC would later disown the congress and reject
Orbih’s election.

When asked on Thursday to comment on Wike’s opposition to
the convention, Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, said he “won’t go into the
gutter” with the FCT minister.

“Personally, when people go low, or they go into the
gutters, I don’t go with them,” Makinde said.

‘WE’LL RESIST ANTI-PARTY FORCES’

In a communiqué issued on Saturday after a meeting in Gusau,
the capital of Zamfara state, the PDP governors reiterated their backing for
the convention.

The governors urged PDP members to “resist all attempts to
derail the convention by anti-party forces”.

The forum advised party members to see the PDP as the “only
democratic institution and viable alternative for restoring Nigeria along the
path of good governance and national

The PDP governors asked party members and supporters to hold
fast to the vision and principles of the PDP.