By Favour Nwankwo
A former spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Umar Sani, says the expulsion of Nyesom Wike and other party members was overdue but necessary to restore order in the party.
Speaking to the press on Monday, he said the disciplinary action taken after the party’s national convention in Ibadan was both lawful and justified.
Sani explained that the PDP had tried several internal reconciliation efforts before the final decision, including the Ambassador Hassan Adamu Committee, which attempted to settle the dispute among party factions.
He said Wike had made difficult demands, including asking the party not to field a presidential candidate in 2027. “We wanted to resolve this as a family… One of his conditions was that we agree not to field a presidential candidate in 2027. We cannot wait for a fight to finish; we have to end the fight,” he said. He added that taking action “was better late than never.”
He also addressed the confusion over the presence of observers at the convention. Sani recalled that the master of ceremonies wrongly announced that INEC officials were in attendance, but Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, quickly clarified that they were only national election observers. “Immediately, I tweeted that the INEC officials are here… Moments later, Bala corrected it… I quickly issued a statement to put out the correct information,” Sani said.
Sani stressed that INEC’s attendance does not make a convention valid or invalid, noting that the law only empowers the commission to monitor but not necessarily certify party conventions. He pointed to an earlier Labour Party convention that INEC did not attend, yet the outcome stood after a court order.
According to him, the PDP followed all legal steps for its Ibadan gathering, including the required 21-day notice and a court directive from Justice A.L. Akintola of the Oyo State High Court. “We held our convention in compliance with statutory court orders,” he noted.
At the convention, the PDP elected Kabiru Turaki as its new National Chairman and Taofeek Arapaja as the new National Secretary. The party also voted to expel several members — including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, suspended National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, former Governor Ayo Fayose, former National Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade, and others — over alleged anti-party activities.
The motion for their removal was moved by Bode George and seconded by Samaila Buga, with the delegates overwhelmingly backing the decision after Governor Bala Mohammed put it to a voice vote. The move signalled a renewed effort by the PDP to enforce discipline and address long-standing internal conflicts.