Wike dismisses Supreme Court move, insists PDP convention will hold

By Philip Yatai

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has described as “baseless” the decision by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Tanimu Turaki to approach the Supreme Court over the party’s leadership dispute.

Wike made the remarks on Friday night after inspecting the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, venue of the PDP National Convention scheduled for March 29 and 30 in Abuja.

The former Rivers governor said the planned appeal against the Court of Appeal judgment would not affect preparations for the convention, insisting that the party would go ahead with the gathering despite ongoing internal disagreements.

“The convention will proceed. Efforts to resolve disputes will continue after,” Wike said, adding that disagreements were inevitable in a political party with millions of members.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Turaki-led National Executive Committee had earlier ratified a decision by the party’s National Working Committee to challenge the appellate court ruling at the Supreme Court.

Wike, however, downplayed the move, noting that the PDP leadership was committed to managing internal grievances through dialogue.

“You cannot expect everyone to be satisfied. Even in a small family, there are disagreements. What matters is the overall interest of the party,” he said.

Projecting confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections, the minister said the PDP would “shock Nigerians” by demonstrating its strength at the polls.

He also confirmed that the party had concluded zoning arrangements for key positions, with the presidency allocated to the South and the national chairmanship to the North, a move he said would ease consensus and foster unity.