Wike-backed BoT chair warns against ‘unauthorised’ meeting at PDP secretariat

Mao Ohuabunwa, factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) board of trustees (BoT), has dismissed a meeting announced for the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

Ohuabunwa, who is a member of the Nyesom Wike-backed PDP, was among those expelled from the party at its convention in Ibadan.

In a statement on Monday, Ohuabunwa’s media office said the BoT meeting and the national executive committee (NEC) session scheduled for Tuesday would proceed as planned at the secretariat.

He added that politicians who gathered in Ibadan on Saturday had merely attended a “social end-of-year event among friends”.

“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,” he said.

Ohuabunwa recalled being present at the 1998 meeting at the old Abuja Sheraton Hotel, now known as Continental Hotel, where the PDP was conceived by figures such as Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Adamu Ciroma and other leading statesmen.

He asked party members across the country to remain calm, noting that key court rulings, including federal high court orders stopping the party from holding any convention, are awaiting determination at the court of appeal.

“As loyal party men and women, it is incumbent on us to follow the law,” he said.

“We must wait for the courts and, at the same time, embrace reconciliation and unity.”

He said the party should focus on bringing all factions together to rebuild a stronger organisation anchored on fairness, democracy and inclusion.

Ohuabunwa urged PDP leaders to prioritise resolving internal disputes instead of fuelling division through unauthorised gatherings.

BACKGROUND

Chaos is looming within the PDP as two factions have scheduled meetings at the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Abuja, on Tuesday.

The Wike-aligned faction had scheduled an emergency BoT session for 11:00am, while the NEC is slated for 2:00pm at the same location with the party’s new national working committee (NWC) leadership.

Led by Kabiru Turaki, the party’s new leadership said it would proceed with its inaugural NEC meeting at Wadata Plaza.

Turaki said nothing would stop him and his colleagues from converging on Wadata Plaza on Tuesday.

He added that the police had assured him that adequate security would be deployed to prevent any breakdown of law and order.

The Wike-aligned faction attempted to stop the convention through the courts, but the opposing side secured a high court order in Oyo allowing the event to proceed.