In a statement released on Sunday, Wike announced his withdrawal from the reconciliation efforts, blaming Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah for the crisis within the PDP.
Anonymous sources within the PDP National Working Committee said that due to the ongoing crisis and the threat to the NEC meeting, the party’s Board of Trustees called for a meeting on Monday (today) in Abuja
Multiple sources disclosed that recognising the potential harm a postponement could cause to the party’s future, the reconciliation panel led by former Senate President Bukola Saraki held an emergency meeting with key stakeholders on Sunday night.
The PDP has been struggling with internal political turmoil before and after the 2023 elections.
Issues such as the political crisis in Rivers State, disputes surrounding the South South Zonal Congress, the position of National Secretary, and now the North Central Zonal Congress have further complicated the party’s stability.
Wike, backed by Governors Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Ahmadu Fintiri (Taraba), and others, angered that decisions made by the National Working Committee and the PDP Governors’ Forum — largely influenced by Governors Makinde, Mbah, and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) undermined the political structure of the Minister Federal Capital Territory.
Despite interventions from key organs like the NWC, the Board of Trustees, NEC, and the Governors’ Forum, attempts at resolving the disputes have only widened internal rifts across states and zones. This ongoing discord has delayed the NEC meeting and hindered the party from making critical decisions about its direction.
The 98th NEC meeting, held on April 18, 2024, failed to resolve major issues, further fueling disunity. Though the 99th NEC meeting was initially scheduled for August 15, it faced multiple postponements—to October 24, then November 28—before being put off indefinitely.
Under increasing pressure, the PDP Governors’ Forum, led by Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed, directed the NWC in December 2024 to convene the NEC no later than February 2025. This was reiterated during a meeting on January 31 in Asaba, where March 13 was suggested as the new date. However, the meeting was again postponed on March 8 to May 15, after further internal consultations.
Eventually, during a governors’ meeting in Ibadan on April 11, a new date of May 27 was set. To ensure it goes ahead, the serving and former governors seven-member committee led by former Senate President Saraki was formed to tackle remaining challenges.
The South East, led by Governor Peter Mbah, along with governors like Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammed, as well as the PDP Board of Trustees, are opposing the Saraki-led committee’s efforts to reinstate Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the party’s National Secretary.
In response to their refusal to acknowledge his allies, Anyanwu, as Secretary and yield to his demands, Minister Federal Capital Territory, Wike on Sunday officially withdrew from all prior agreements aimed at resolving the PDP’s internal crisis.
The former Rivers State Governor citing repeated violations, accused Oyo State Governor of being the “chief culprit” behind the party’s troubles.
In a personally signed statement on Sunday titled “PDP Crisis: My Position,” Wike declared that the PDP has been plagued by “dishonesty and lack of trust amongst its key stakeholders,” and vowed to “fight on until justice is attained.”
“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,” the minister stated. “To stem this ugly trend, efforts have been made to arrest this pernicious virus of dishonesty and treachery and enthrone fidelity to agreements.”
Wike disclosed that during a G5 meeting in Lagos, he directly confronted Governor Makinde over what he described as a betrayal of trust, adding that there had also been a subsequent expanded meeting held at the Abuja residence of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, also attend by Governors Umaru Fintiri, Bala Mohammed, and where certain resolutions were reached.
Among the resolutions were “that Senator Samuel Anyanwu remains the National Secretary of the PDP in tandem with the Supreme Court judgement, all legal matters relating to Rivers State must be withdrawn by the National Legal Adviser, the suit on the State of emergency be withdrawn forthwith, and nobody should deviate from the agreements so reached,” he noted.
However, the former Rivers State Governor lamented that those resolutions were soon violated.
“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,” Wike said.
He specifically accused Makinde of working with Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, to undermine the agreement.
“Seyi Makinde had connived with Peter Mbah 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.”
“Seyi Makinde organised 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,” he added
According to him, this led to confusion within the party’s leadership and affected official communications, including a situation where a letter properly signed by the National Secretary and Acting National Chairman confirming a gubernatorial candidate in Anambra was undermined through a rebuttal allegedly ordered by Makinde and Mbah.
“On the 24th of May 2025, in Jos, for instance, a well-publicised 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… INEC refused to attend because the proper signatory recognised by law, that is Senator Samuel Anyanwu, was not a signatory to the invitation notice,” Wike said.
Decrying the situation as “undeniably distasteful, provocative and annoying, Wike asserted that his commitment to the party since 1998 has never wavered, unlike those he accuses of “playing games to the detriment of the party.”
“I have now firmly decided to pull out of all agreements hitherto reached. I have decided to fight on until justice is attained,” he concluded.
