• Leaders Decry Impunity Within Party
• Rivers Chapter Boycotts Convention

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deepened on Friday as revelations emerged that the Damagun-led National Working Committee (NWC) ignored a comprehensive report of the Board of Trustees (BoT) Reconciliation Committee that advised against proceeding with the party’s planned national convention.

This came as Justice Peter Odo Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has issued a final order stopping the party from proceeding with the convention scheduled to hold in Ibadan, Oyo State, from November 15-16, 2025.

The convention was put together for the purpose of electing national officers of the party.  However, Justice Lifu in his final judgment on Friday in a suit filed by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, barred PDP from proceeding with the convention until it complies with its Constitution and Guidelines on the convention.

He ordered that the Ibadan convention must be put on hold until Lamido is allowed to purchase a nomination form for the office of the national chairmanship.

The judge prohibited the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising, monitoring or aiding the Ibadan convention until Lamido is allowed to participate in it.

The judge held that PDP was under strict obligation to adhere to its own rules and regulations by giving opportunities to eligible members to realise their aspirations.

He ruled that it was wrong of the PDP to have denied Lamido the right to purchase a nomination form for the office of the national chairman of the party.

The BoT report, submitted last Thursday after a week-long shuttle among aggrieved power blocs, recommended immediate lifting of the suspension of the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu; National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature; and National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN).

It also advised the party to revert to status quo ante, establish an all-inclusive caretaker committee, and restore the BoT to its constitutional role as an impartial arbiter.

Other recommendations are the review of constitutional amendments, especially proposals to elevate the Governors Forum into an organ, and upholding party constitution and supremacy above individual ambitions.

The six-member reconciliation panel, drawn from all six geopolitical zones and chaired by Ambassador Hassan Adamu, was inaugurated on November 5, 2025, with a mandate to prevent the PDP’s total collapse.

The report revealed that their interactions exposed factional distrust, constitutional violations, unilateral decisions, and 2027 succession intrigues as the cause of the crisis in the party, which the committee warned have “festered for too long.”

Among the committee’s critical observations were that governors and NWC members no longer trusted one another and that job descriptions had been eroded; even as loyalty had been personalised rather than institutionalised.

It also observed that litigations across states had been poorly handled, aggravating existing disputes. Other observations of the committee are that the 2027 presidential permutations had corrupted decision-making; and that the Ibadan convention stood on shaky legal ground, with INEC unlikely to monitor it.

The panel submitted that “going ahead with the convention under these conditions will fracture the party irreparably.” However, The Guardian learnt that the Damagun-led NWC sidestepped these proposals and instead chose to move ahead with the convention.

It was gathered that at the end of a strategic meeting last Thursday night involving PDP governors, the NWC, the BoT, and other stakeholders in Abuja, the Damagum-led NWC reaffirmed that the national convention would proceed as planned.

The Chairman of the National Convention Organising Committee and Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, had announced the decision after the meeting, declaring that the party remained united on the convention and would not be distracted by conflicting statements from aggrieved factions.

The clarification followed a statement issued by the suspended National Secretary, Anyanwu, and the factional National Chairman, Abdurahman Mohammed, advising party members to boycott the Ibadan convention.

Apparently in compliance with the directive, the Rivers State Chapter of the party on Friday announced its decision to boycott the national convention, citing leadership crisis and lack of communication from the national leadership.

In a disclaimer signed by several state executives and local council party chairmen, the Rivers State PDP expressed its dissatisfaction with the national leadership, stating that the party has been polarised due to the ongoing leadership crisis.

The statement highlighted that there was no proper communication channel between the national leadership and the state leadership, headed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, which has left the chapter incommunicado.

The party also expressed outrage that their names and photographs were included in the brochure of the proposed Ibadan National Convention without their consent.

As a result, the Rivers State PDP announced that it has unanimously resolved not to participate in the National Convention scheduled to take place on November 15-16, 2025, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The chapter, however, affirmed its loyalty to Fubara, stating that he remains their leader and the leader of the party in the state. Meanwhile, at a press conference in Abuja addressed jointly by George Turna (PDP South-South Zonal Secretary), Austin Nwachukwu (PDP Chairman, Imo State) and Amah Abraham (PDP Chairman, Abia State), on Friday, the faction declared that the Damagum bloc had “jettisoned a golden opportunity for peace,” despite clear legal, procedural and moral red flags against proceeding with Saturday’s convention.

They lamented that the far-reaching recommendations signed by all six BoT members representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones were casually ignored.

Turna accused the Damagum faction of “undemocratic practices” that forced several state leaders to seek judicial intervention. He argued that the party had veered completely off its constitutional compass in the lead-up to the planned convention.

“Instead of implementing these recommendations, they are insisting on proceeding. Nigerians must now see clearly who is on the side of law and who is on the side of impunity,” Turna said.