The internal conflict within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a dramatic turn as Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former Governor of Rivers State, has withdrawn from all previously reached reconciliation deals. His decision were describes as persistent dishonesty, betrayal, and the violation of mutual understandings among senior party leaders.
In a strongly worded statement released on Sunday, Wike pointed fingers at Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, whom he identified as the principal instigator of the ongoing discord. According to Wike, Makinde’s failure to honour agreements and consistent interference in internal matters has destabilised efforts to unite the PDP.
Following the fallout from the 2023 general elections, efforts had been made by key stakeholders to rebuild trust and restore cohesion within the PDP. The initiatives which include multiple reconciliation meetings involving the influential G5 group of which Wike is a prominent member and other senior party figures.
Wike directly accused Governor Seyi Makinde of undermining unity within the party, where issues were discussed in an expanded meeting in Abuja, attended by governors and political heavyweights such as Bala Mohammed, Umaru Fintiri, and Bukola Saraki. While that meeting appeared to end on a hopeful note, with resolutions agreed upon, Wike has since claimed that those understandings were quickly and deliberately violated.
He stressed that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State deliberately neglecte the gentleman’s agreement reached during the Abuja meeting at Saraki’s guest house. The resolutions included upholding Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s position as National Secretary, withdrawing all legal cases concerning Rivers State, abandoning calls for a state of emergency, and ensuring strict adherence to agreed terms.
He also alleged that Seyi Makinde and Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah colluded to bypass the agreed decisions by convening a South-East leaders’ meeting to impose Ude Okoye as PDP’s National Secretary, directly contradicting the previously endorsed judgement of the Supreme Court.
The Minister highlighted how Makinde allegedly manipulated party processes at the national level, using loyalists within the PDP Secretariat to push decisions that conflicted with the existing agreements. Which included an attempt to install the Deputy National Secretary as the acting National Secretary, and the rejection of a candidate endorsement letter signed by both the acting National Chairman and Senator Anyanwu.
Wike further detailed a particularly damaging incident on 24 May 2025, where a zonal elective congress in Jos was cancelled. The cancellation followed INEC’s refusal to attend, citing an improperly signed invitation an administrative error Wike blames squarely on the breach of agreed protocols regarding legitimate signatories.
These lapses, according to Wike, are not only embarrassing but harmful to the PDP’s public image and credibility. He emphasised that such behaviour risks eroding the party’s democratic integrity and alienating loyal supporters nationwide.
Wike vowed to continue his fight for justice within the PDP. He made it clear that the current trajectory of dishonesty, political scheming, and power plays must end if the party hopes to regain credibility and functionality.
“I have decided to fight on until justice is attained,” Wike concluded in his statement, affirming his determination to hold party members accountable for what he sees as a deliberate effort to sideline democratic principles.
Wike statement below:
PDP CRISIS: MY POSITION
1. Since after the 2023 General election, the PDP has been wantonly swinging from one part of a slippery precipice to another, owing fundamentally to dishonesty and lack of trust amongst its key stakeholders. To stem this ugly trend, efforts have been made to arrest this pernicious virus of dishonesty and treachery and enthrone fidelity to agreements with a view to stabilizing the party and moving it forward.
2. To this end, a meeting of the G5 was held in Lagos. In that meeting, I made it clear to the Governor of Oyo State, HE. Seyi Makinde, that he was the architect of our problems, pointing out to him that non-adherence to agreements reached was the bane of the party, and that he was the chief culprit of this anomaly. At the end of the meeting, we resolved to bury the hatchet and make progress.
3. As a follow-up to the aforementioned meeting, there was an expanded meeting in Abuja involving HE. Seyi Makinde, HE. Umaru Fintri, HE. Bala Mohammed, HE, Bukola Saraki, and I in Saraki’s guest house. In that meeting, I made it clear that I had no personal problems with HE. Bala Mohammed, except that he hides under the facade of Chairman of PDP Governors Forum to serially renege on agreements. Tensions rose mightily in the meeting and it took all concerned to calm frayed nerves. At the end of the meeting, we came to some resolutions, including:
a. That Senator Samuel Anyanwu remains the National Secretary of the PDP in tandem with the Supreme Court judgement.
b. All legal matters relating to Rivers State must be withdrawn by the National Legal Adviser.
c. The suit on the State of emergency be withdrawn forthwith.
d. Nobody should deviate from the agreements so reached.
In the light of the foregoing, they pleaded with me to attend the stakeholders’ meeting at the Bauchi Government Lodge, regardless of my many engagements. I attended the meeting and clearly reiterated my earlier concerns, and to this end and in order to resolve all other lingering and pending issues, a committee was formed, headed by HE. Bukola Saraki.
4. It is disheartening to note that even before the Bukola Saraki Reconciliation Committee began its work, the gentleman’s agreement we reached at Saraki’s Guest House was already being crudely violated. To my chagrin, Seyi Makinde had connived with Peter Mba of Enugu State to orchestrate the summoning of the meeting of so-called South-East leaders to recommend that if Ude Okoye was not adopted as Secretary, they would pull out of the PDP. I have since granted an interview to the effect that, that resolution of the South-East leaders can not hold.
Again, Seyi Makinde organized some people in the National Secretariat to insist that the Deputy National Secretary should act as National Secretary, in violation of the agreement earlier reached. To attempt to give credence to this farce, a letter was written by the Deputy National Secretary, calling for a meeting of the NEC of the party. Furthermore, the letter confirming the candidacy of the Governorship candidate of the party in the forthcoming Governorship elections in Anambra State, duly signed by the National Secretary, Senator Anyanwu and the acting National Chairman, was portrayed as rejected by the party through a rebuttal letter signed by the National Publicity Secretary, acting on the orders of Seyi Makinde and Peter Mba. All these actions are in complete violation of the agreements reached and would not do the party any good whatsoever. On the 24th of May 2025, in Jos, for instance, a well publicized and properly attended zonal elective congress of the PDP was aborted because the letter inviting INEC to the congress was signed by the Deputy National Secretary of the party. INEC refused to attend because the proper signatory recognized by law, that is Senator Samuel Anyanwu was not a signatory to the invitation notice. This is undeniably distasteful, provocative and annoying, to say the least.
5. I have painstakingly put out all these facts so that PDP members and the general public would know the truth. I have been in this party since 1998 and have worked tirelessly for the survival of this party with all my strength and it is on record that none of these persons have done anything close to what I have done to sustain this party. What is more painful is that I contributed substantially to most of these governors winning their elections, yet I have not made any personal demands on any of them and I would never do so.
Most importantly, I had thought that we could keep the trust amongst us, but since it is now obvious that they would continue to play games to the detriment of the party, as is the case in the current debacle in the North-Central zonal elections, I have now firmly decided to pull out of all agreements hitherto reached. I have decided to fight on until justice is attained.
Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON
Minister, Federal Capital Territory
May 25, 2025.
