Wike To PDP: Avoid Extinction, Zone 2027 Presidency To South

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike has insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, must zone its presidential candidate to the south in  a south in 2027.

The minister said this is the position of some PDP stakeholders after a meeting in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Monday.

He said this is the only way to save the party from being driven into extinction, saying the PDP is still paying for the mistakes it made in 2023.

The minister made the remark yesterday in a communique he read after a meeting by some PDP stakeholders, which included former Governors of Benue and Abia states, Samuel Ortom and Okezie Ikpeazu, the PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, who the minister said remained the substantive scribe in line with the Supreme Court judgment.

The concerned stakeholders also affirmed their support for the Committee recently set up by the leadership of the party, headed by a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki to reconcile some aggrieved members of the party.

The communique reads: “At a meeting of the aforementioned group on the 9th day of June, 2025 in Abuja, the state of affairs of the party; the need to reinforce internal democracy, equity and justice within the ranks of the party were discussed and carefully reviewed.

“The eminent stakeholders and concerned leaders drawn from the various states of the federation, took a deep and strong view of the situation in our party and came to the following conclusions:

• The seemingly intractable crisis in the party is as a result of inexplicable refusal of a few to adhere to the party Constitution, with particular reference to Section 36(1)(a) (b) and (c), Sections 47(3)(5) and 48(1)(i) and the definitive Supreme Court Judgment regarding the position of the office of the National Secretary of the party;

• The eminent stakeholders and concerned leaders are alarmed that the party is in an inevitable path to self- annihilation, if urgent steps are not taken to rein in the desperate, divisive and selfish tendencies that brought the party to its knees in the lead up to the 2023 election.

• These divisive tendencies, unfortunately, have found expression in the conduct of certain interest within the ranks of our party both at NEC, NWC and Board of trustees level.”

The stakeholders also resolved:

• That to finally arrest the inexorable drift towards extinction in our party, the party must, without further delay, respect the judgment of the Supreme Court. We, therefore, unequivocally reaffirm Senator Sam Anyanwu as the duly elected and substantive National Secretary of our great party.

• In the spirit of fairness, inclusion, federal Character principles and respect for our party Constitution, the Party must make an unequivocal pronouncement Zoning its presidential candidate to the south in the 2027 elections after the unbroken years of Northern President under President Muhammadu Buhari.

• In line with the provisions of our party constitution only the National Secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu, can issue notices of meeting of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, National Caucus and the National Working Committee and to this end all notices not issued by him and actions founded on them, including correspondences to INEC are null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

• Furthermore, it is clear from the Constitution that only the National Convention, properly and duly constituted can remove Senator Sam Anyanwu, the National Secretary, arising from his status as a member of the National Executive Committee of the party.

• We, therefore, demand that the acting National Chairman and the National Secretary jointly issue a notice to INEC with an attached agenda for the NEC meeting of the party being the only pathway to abide by extant laws.

• We, the stakeholders reiterate our commitment to our great party and urge all members to uphold the rule of law, respect constitutional mandate, resist all machinations aimed at destabilizing the party and support the efforts of the National Reconciliation Committee headed by His Excellency, Senator Bukola Saraki.”

The magazine reported that the party had on May 12, 2025, appointed Saraki  as head of a 7-man committee to finetune modalities for the upcoming National Executive Committee, NEC), and reconcile some aggrieved members back to the party.