Politics
PDP crisis: NWC accused of protecting party bigwigs from sanctions
There are indications that the National Disciplinary Committee set up by the Peoples Democratic Party may not sanction erring members before the next convention of the party.
This was as the PDP Governors’ Forum gave a February 2025 deadline to the party to convene the National Executive Council meeting.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the disciplinary committee, as advised by some leaders of the PDP, had resolved to toe the part of reconciliation and allow the next convention to ease out members perceived to have disobeyed extant rules of the party.
The main opposition party is expected to hold its convention where a new leadership will emerge ahead of the 2027 general elections.
According to some notable leaders of the PDP, both the reconciliation and disciplinary committees are working together and cautious to avoid any action that will further divide the party.
But a senior member of the PDP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, argued that the committee, headed by a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tom Ikimi, was designed to fail by some members of the National Working Committee of the party.
The source revealed that the formation of the committee was contrary to the PDP constitution.
He added that concerns earlier raised by some party leaders on the legality of the committee were ignored by the acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, and some other members of the NWC.
“The committee was intentionally formed this way to ensure its failure in disciplining certain members,” the chieftain said.
The PDP started grappling with internal strife before and after the 2023 presidential election.
Supporters of the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had called for the suspension of former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, ex-governors Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, and a few others in their camp for perceived anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, Wike’s supporters also demanded disciplinary action against the former vice president and his allies, including former governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Babangida Aliyu (Niger), among others.
In response, the PDP NWC set up a disciplinary committee on August 21, 2024, to allow members to file petitions from both the petitioners and the accused, and make recommendations to the National Executive Committee.
However, Sunday PUNCH learnt that apart from Ikimi’s October 5 statement assuring fair handling of complaints, there had been no further communication from the disciplinary panel, and the activities of the 26-member committee had remained unknown for over three months.
Speaking further, the senior PDP member stated that the National Disciplinary Committee, as recognised by the amended 2017 constitution of the party, was composed of seven members, not 26.
He explained that any sanction imposed by the Damagum-constituted NDC would be invalid, arguing that the committee was not recognised by the party’s constitution.
“You can’t build something on a flawed foundation. Since the composition of Ikimi’s committee does not follow these requirements, they can’t bark or bite. Any sanction they propose can be legally challenged and will be deemed null and void,” he added.
The source said majority of members of the NDC were loyalists of a particular leader of the party.
“Look at the membership—it is deliberately stacked with individuals loyal to a particular party leader who has taken control of the party structure. He has repeatedly said no one can suspend him, even daring the party to try. So, in addition to ignoring the PDP Constitution, they purposely filled the committee with his loyalists to ensure no harm came to their supporters.
“Lastly, since its inauguration three months ago, have you heard anything from this committee? A disciplinary committee that should be open, fair, and transparent is now operating in secrecy. I know many allegations have been made against several members, but has the committee invited anyone? Has any member of the party appeared before it? Given these constitutional issues and other factors, it’s clear that this committee is bound to fail,” the source added.
In a slight contradiction, two chieftains of the party told Sunday PUNCH in separate interviews that it was likely that the committee was ‘being cautious’ of the consequence of its action.
“Our party is already fragile; any attempt to sanction anybody will bring down the party. That is the consideration of the disciplinary committee. Even if the committee submits its report, the NWC will not act on it because of the need to avoid further crisis,” said one of the chieftains of the party.
The party leader insisted that the disciplinary committee prioritised the unity and progress of the party above the call to suspend or expel some erring members of the party.
The other chieftain, a former deputy spokesperson for the party, said the reconciliation committee, headed by a former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was relating with every other committee, including the disciplinary panel, to ensure that their actions did not frustrate his efforts.
He said, “What we believe is that our convention is next year. Everything should be put on hold till that time. Naturally, the convention will ease out some members, including those known and unknown enemies of the party.
“Every agitation has been suspended till the convention. Those who want to remove Damagum have also stopped their move because of the convention. If the party sanctions anybody now, it will cause another crisis. Why not wait till the convention where everything will be sorted out? The committee is not likely to do anything before the convention; that is the understanding I have.”
Several attempts by our correspondent to reach the Chairman of the Committee, Ikimi, and the Secretary, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), for responses were unsuccessful, as they neither answered calls nor replied to text messages.
By Okey Maduforo Awka
The former member that represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency Chief Chinedu Obidigwe has denied a social media handle where he was said to have made Prof Charles Soludo the Governor of Anambra state.
Obidigwe further stated that the report did neither emanate from him or from his Media Aides urging the party not to believe what he called attempt at setting a negative agenda in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Obidigwe who is an Aspirant of the party for the Anambra East and West Federal Constituency accused enemies of the party being sponsored by opposition parties to creat problems .
According to the Media Assistant to Obidigwe Mr Dominic Okagbue in a statement;
“The attention of Hon. Chinedu Benjamin Obidigwe has been drawn to misleading and unfounded claims/propaganda being circulated on various social media platforms through a pseudo account, alleging that Obidigwe said he installed the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, as Governor in 2021”
“We wish to state, without any iota of equivocation, that such a statement never emanated from Hon. Chinedu Obidigwe. It is a desperate move by his political enemies who are bent on tarnishing his image as a tool and technique to advance their unmerited aspirations”
“Obidigwe, in 2021, was merely an electorate with just one vote. Even though he voted for the Governor and APGA, the question remains: can one man’s vote make a Governor?”
“Governor Soludo was elected and made Governor through the collective votes of Ndi Anambra, both in his first and second terms. We therefore call on the reading public to disregard such rumours and treat them as faceless and unfounded allegations geared towards the character assassination of an innocent man” he said.
A former Kano State Governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Rabiu Kwankwaso, says northern political leaders conducted a deliberate assessment of potential allies before settling on Peter Obi as the most capable partner to prosecute the 2027 presidential campaign.
He dismissed concerns about a hidden power struggle between his camp and Obi’s.Politics
Kwankwaso made the disclosure in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, offering one of his most detailed accounts yet of how the North-Southeast political alliance within the NDC was formed.
“I looked around together with our leadership in the north to say, okay, who do we think is capable? Who can come and work together with us honestly so that we can move this country? Along the line, we realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
Kwankwaso, a two-term former governor of Kano State and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in 2023, leads the Kwankwasiyya movement, a grassroots political force with deep loyalty across Kano and parts of northern Nigeria.Nigeria travel guide
He left the NNPP amid internal disputes before joining the NDC alongside Obi earlier this month.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and drew massive youth-driven support across the South and urban centres, though he did not win.
Both men formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, defecting from the crisis-hit African Democratic Congress.Politics
At the party’s national convention on Saturday in Abuja, Kwankwaso backed the NDC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing it as a step toward fairness, healing and national cohesion.
Responding to a question about whether the alliance concealed a quiet rivalry between both camps, Kwankwaso argued that friction between principals and their deputies was a product of greed, not structural tension.
“The problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. There is so much to do. You don’t have to fight your deputy,” he said.
He said his record as a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, and later as governor of Kano State, showed that political partnerships could hold under pressure.
“I had an opportunity to work with my speaker and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor. We were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him,” he said.
Kwankwaso extended the argument beyond his personal experience, saying the same principle applied at the federal level.
In the Senate and other places, in the NDDC, we worked amicably with people. There is so much to be done and that’s why you have even ministers, other executives, advisors and so on. I don’t see from my experiences of the past why deputies or vice would fight with the president or governor,” he said.
He grounded the alliance in Nigerian political history, tracing a lineage of productive North-Southeast partnerships from the first republic to the present.Nigeria travel guide
“Right from the beginning, this sort of alliance has been in existence. Now we are going back to what Tafawa Balewa did during their time,” he said.
He also referenced the collaboration between former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and leaders of the NCNC, as well as that of former President Shehu Shagari and his vice president, Alex Ekwueme, in the second republic.
“So also in the second republic, immediately after the war, our leaders, Shagari and others, worked very closely with the southeast, with Alex Ekwueme as his vice president. They are our friends. We want to work together with them,” he said.Politics
Kwankwaso also noted that subsequent administrations had shifted power-sharing away from the South-East, a pattern he suggested the current alliance was correcting.
“There was a change during the third republic where for many obvious reasons an election was annulled and the government under the military decided to bring in Shonekan from the South-West.
Even after that, the military and other leaders worked together and brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West again. Even Bola Tinubu probably is a beneficiary of all that,” he said.
He was emphatic that the choice of Obi was not driven by regional sentiment alone.
“It wasn’t just because we are going to the South-West just because of the South-West. No. We realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it and that’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
The movement of both men into the NDC has triggered a wave of defections, with senators, House of Representatives members and political blocs aligned with their former coalition gravitating toward the new party, rapidly reshaping calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.
The alliance pairs Kwankwaso’s northern grassroots structure and disciplined voter mobilisation with Obi’s national youth engagement and urban electoral momentum, positioning the NDC as one of the main opposition platforms set to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027
Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed suggestions that his exit from the African Democratic Congress has created a damaging split in the opposition.
He said he and Atiku Abubakar may yet work together before the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso spoke in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, responding to concerns that his move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Peter Obi had effectively divided the opposition into two competing blocs ahead of the polls.
“Now, we may still work together before the election. I personally, and I think even Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues,” he said
He said the ADC was contending with three major unresolved problems that he believed would make it difficult for the party to field candidates, without specifying what those issues were.
“Whether they will be able to field candidates in that party or not is just a matter of time. It’s not like we had a primary election,” he said
The remarks come after Atiku recently claimed on Arise TV that Kwankwaso’s popularity was confined to Kano State and further divided there by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Atiku, who is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, also described himself as the most popular politician of northern extraction, saying none of his contemporaries, including Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir El-Rufai, commanded a voter base across the North as wide as his.
Kwankwaso did not engage the slight directly, but made clear he bore no grudge.
“Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. I have no issue with that. I think we are past that level now,” he said.
He challenged those predicting a vote split in Kano to wait for the election result before drawing conclusions.
“Let’s wait for the election and see whether votes are split in Kano or not,” he said.
Kwankwaso also acknowledged a history of working with Atiku, recalling that he served as the former vice president’s northern coordinator during the 2019 presidential election.
“There was an election in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the north. We worked for him,” he said.
He traced his broader relationship with Atiku to the 2015 APC presidential primary in Lagos, where he placed second behind Muhammadu Buhari, with Atiku third.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expelled 30 members of the party for instituting legal actions against the party.
The affected members include some aspirants for the National Assembly, and their expulsion may disqualify them from participating in the party’s primary elections.
Disclosing this shortly after the meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sir Valentine Iyiegbu, told reporters that the decision was in line with Section 21, Subsection 5 of the party’s constitution.
“The party discussed those who took the party to court, and many of them are contesting for the House of Representatives tickets of the party,” he said.
“The matter comes up tomorrow, and the SEC stated that what the party constitution stipulates would be followed, which is outright expulsion from the party under Article 21, Subsection 5.”
“The SEC actually ratified their expulsion because they did not exhaust all the internal avenues provided by the party to resolve their grievances,” he added.
Iyiegbu noted that the only reprieve available to the expelled members would be for them to withdraw their court cases.
“It is only when the matters are withdrawn from the court that the party can consider listening to them,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s primary elections, he explained:
“In the case of those contesting for the tickets of the Federal House of Representatives, all the eleven positions have aspirants, while for the Senate, the three positions are also being contested. The screening committees were here to perform their duties,” he noted.
The party also ratified the appointment of a five-man Primary Elections Committee headed by Sir Izuchukwu Okeke, the State Organising Secretary of the party.
By PETRUS OBI
Frontline aspirant for the Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency seat, Anayo Onwuegbu, has successfully completed the screening exercise conducted by the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives screening panel in Abuja ahead of the party primaries scheduled for Friday, May 15, 2026.
Speaking after the exercise, Onwuegbu expressed satisfaction with the screening process, describing it as a reflection of the party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and credible leadership selection ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The aspirant, who is seeking to represent Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency under the platform of the APC, stated that he remains focused and prepared to continue to offer quality representation to the people of the constituency.
According to him, “The process once again highlights our party’s commitment to internal democracy, transparency, and the emergence of credible leadership as we prepare for the 2027 general elections.”
He reaffirmed his dedication to the development of the constituency, pledging to serve the people with commitment and purpose if elected.
The APC House of Representatives primaries are expected to hold nationwide on Friday as aspirants battle for the party’s tickets ahead of the 2027 elections.
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