A fresh dispute has erupted within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following reports that several prominent members, including Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, were expelled at the party’s national convention held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, over the weekend.
The convention, organised by a faction of the party, announced the expulsion of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike; a former Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose; the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu; National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; and Imo State Chairman, Hon. Austin Nwachukwu.
Also expelled are Hon. Umar Bature, Mohammed Abdulrahman; Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Wike-led faction, Senator Mao Ohabunwa; Hon. Austine Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah, George Turner and Chief Dan Orbih.
They said to have been removed from the party on account of “anti-party activities”. However, the decision has been dismissed by another PDP faction as ‘baseless, unconstitutional and an affront to the party’s history’.
Ohuabunwa disowned the announcement, describing it as ‘a joke taken too far by people who have hopped in and out of the party more times than they can count’.
In a statement on Sunday by his media office, Ohuabunwa, a respected lawmaker, who is also a former House of Representatives leader and PDP loyalist, noted that he is one of the original architects of the party.
He recalled being physically present at the meeting at the old Abuja Sheraton Hotel (now Continental Hotel) in 1998 where the party was conceived, alongside frontline leaders such as a former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma and other political icons who laid the foundation of what became Africa’s largest political party.
Ohuabunwa said: ‘It is amusing for anyone to suggest that I, a founding father and current chairman of the conscience of our party, was expelled at a social gathering that some people are calling a convention.
‘A jamboree of friends cannot become a disciplinary platform. A get-together cannot expel the very people founded and built the house they are partying in’.
He added that those alleging to have expelled him are individuals who ‘have gone in and out of the PDP at various times’, unlike himself, who has remained ‘steadfast and committed since 1998’.
Ohuabunwa urged party members nationwide to remain calm, stressing that critical court decisions, including the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja restraining the party from holding any convention, are still pending at the Court of Appeal.
He enjoined: ‘As loyal party men and women, it is incumbent on us to follow the law. We must wait for the courts and, at the same time, embrace reconciliation and unity.
‘We should bring everyone on board and rebuild a bigger, stronger platform rooted in fairness, democracy and inclusion, the very ideals on which the PDP was founded’.
The senator called on PDP leaders to focus on healing internal divisions rather than escalating conflicts through illegitimate gatherings.
He insisted: ‘What happened in Ibadan was nothing more than an end-of-year get-together. It was not a convention, and certainly not a disciplinary organ of the party. We are not fighting; we are searching for peace, healing and understanding’.
His stance has been echoed by senior party stakeholders who insist that only a properly convened and appropriate party organ can take disciplinary action against members.
But two state governors elected on the platform of the party — Adamu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau) — dissociated themselves from the expulsion. They called for unity and reconciliation.
