My Continued Membership Of The PDP Will Depend On Court Of Appeal Ruling – Zamfara Gov Lawal

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

One of the three Peoples Democratic party, PDP, Governors still standing, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, has tied his continued membership of the beleaguered party to the outcome of the legal proceedings at the Appeal Court.

The Source reports that the Appallate court had a couple ago, consolidated the avalanche of appeals by the two contending camps in the festering leadership crises bedeviling the PDP.

The two factions of the once political behemouth which became pronounced immediately after the November 15 and 16 Ibadan National Convention, are separately backed by the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister Nyesom Wike, and Governors of Oyo and Bauchi States, Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammad respectively.

Governor Lawal who has been under intense internal and external pressurqqe to ditch the fractured PDP ,as his fellow former colleagues had done, however, informed that he will only consider the option of defection after the Court of Appeal pronouncement of the consolidated suits before the Court.

A statement from his media aide, Mustapha Jafaru Kaura, said that Governor Lawal who spoke at an interactive session with stakeholders from 14 local council  at the Government House ,Gusau, the state capital, emphasized the need to be alive to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s electoral guidelines which have, among other things, fixed between April and May as deadline for the conclusion of all party primaries for the 2027 polls.

It will be recalled that following the new Electoral Act which abridged the election timetable from 360 days to 300 days, the INEC authorities, last week, reeled out  the timetable  for the 2027 election,  with parties mandated to the conduct of their primaries between April and May ending.

“The INEC guidelines indicate that between April and May 2026, all party Congresses must be concluded.

“There are litigations surrounding the PDP at the National level. If we remain without exploring options, we may face uncertainty and others may take advantage”, the Governor’s 1spokesperson emphasized.

The Court of Appeal is expected to make a definite pronouncement as to which of the two camps separately led by Wike and Governors Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammad is the authentic national leadership of the PDP.

The Wike faction which had sprung up immediately after  the Ibadan National Convention which threw up the Turaki’s National leadership ,had earlier in the year been recognized as the rightful leadership by an Abuja Federal High Court .

The trial court also declared the Ibadan National Convention a nullity ,as it was held against a court order .

The Turaki-led NWC is presently seeking to upturn the trial Court’s  ruling,as well as an order affirming the Ibadan Convention and it’s outcome.

It is strongly believed that the Zamfara State Governor will be quitting the PDP should the Turaki-led NWC loses at the Appeal Court .

Although some of his aides are believed to favour the APC  in the event of defection , his destination is mostly likely to be the emerging opposition Coalition platform the African Democratic Congress ADC.