Makinde accuses Wike of offering PDP to Tinubu as INEC snub plunges party deeper into crisis

The crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worsened on Tuesday after Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, of pledging to undermine the opposition party in support of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.

Makinde’s disclosure came amid INEC’s refusal to recognise the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN)-led National Working Committee (NWC), a decision that has sharpened divisions within the party and reinforced claims of an orchestrated attempt to weaken the opposition.

Speaking during a media interaction in Ibadan, Makinde said his relationship with Wike collapsed after the former Rivers State governor made what he described as an unsolicited declaration during a meeting with President Tinubu.

“I was in a meeting with the President, Wike, the President’s Chief of Staff and two others. Wike said to the President, ‘I will hold the PDP for you against 2027,’” Makinde said, adding that the statement left him stunned.

According to Makinde, the President neither requested nor approved such a pledge, but Wike remained unwilling to retreat from the position despite attempts by mutual associates to intervene.

“Wike can support the President if he wants, but he must allow those of us who want to preserve democracy and prevent a one-party state to do our own thing,” the governor said, declaring that he would not back Tinubu in 2027 and regretted supporting him in 2023.

Makinde warned that pushing Nigeria towards a one-party system could have dangerous consequences, including mass unrest.

“What Nigerians would show politicians and elites in 2027, we cannot imagine right now,” he said.

Wike’s camp swiftly dismissed the allegations. His media aide, Lere Olayinka, accused Makinde of political opportunism, claiming he lacked loyalty to any party and was driven solely by personal ambition.

Olayinka alleged that Makinde had a history of switching parties when it suited his interests and suggested he would defect again after the 2027 elections.

As the political war of words raged, INEC dealt a major blow to the Turaki-led PDP leadership by declining to recognise it, citing subsisting court judgments and pending legal processes.

In a December 22 letter signed by INEC Secretary Dr Rose Oriaran-Anthony, the commission said two final judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja restrained it from recognising the outcome of the PDP’s Ibadan convention held on November 15 and 16, 2025.

INEC stressed that appeals against the judgments did not amount to a stay of execution and that it remained bound by the courts to withhold recognition.

The decision was welcomed by the Wike-aligned faction. Senator Samuel Anyanwu, National Secretary of the caretaker committee, described it as a victory for the rule of law and insisted that the Ibadan convention was invalid.

However, the Turaki-led NWC rejected INEC’s position. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, insisted there were no factions in the PDP and accused INEC of bias.

He argued that the party had complied fully with legal requirements for the Ibadan convention and had even secured a stay of execution on the judgments cited by INEC.

Backing Makinde, PDP chieftain Umar Sani said the Oyo governor had exposed the true source of the party’s leadership crisis. Speaking on Arise Television, Sani accused INEC of duplicity, arguing that the commission could not rely on court cases it knew were under appeal with applications for stay.

Makinde also accused INEC of acting in a one-sided manner, warning that undermining the PDP amounted to undermining democracy itself.

With both sides entrenched and legal battles ongoing, the PDP’s leadership crisis shows no sign of abating, casting a shadow over the party’s ability to present a united front ahead of the 2027 general elections.