Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
ABUJA, Nigeria – The leadership crisis tearing the Peoples Democratic Party apart erupted in fresh recriminations yesterday as the faction loyal to former Special Duties Minister, Tanimu Turaki (SAN), condemned the Independent National Electoral Commission for handing the party’s candidate nomination upload code to the camp of Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The move, confirmed by PDP National Publicity Secretary Jungudo Mohammed, gave the access code to the National Working Committee led by Abdulrahman Mohammed – the structure that INEC now formally recognises as the legitimate leadership of the main opposition party. But the Turaki faction has dismissed the commission’s action as merely “administrative” and vowed to fight on.
“We have not been given any code, and we are not worried, because in the end our candidates will be uploaded as PDP candidates,” Ini Ememobong, spokesperson of the Turaki‑led faction, declared. He pointed to previous elections in Ekiti and Osun states where, he claimed, the electoral body eventually accepted his faction’s candidates even when the commission initially recognised the rival camp.
The crisis is the product of a tortuous legal battle over who truly leads Nigeria’s foremost opposition party. Last November, PDP governors endorsed a national convention in Ibadan that elected Turaki and a new National Working Committee on a four‑year mandate. But the Wike‑aligned faction dismissed that outcome and quickly set up a 13‑member caretaker committee, naming Abdulrahman Mohammed as Acting Chairman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu as Acting Secretary.
INEC initially refused to recognise either side. However, on April 30, 2026, the Supreme Court delivered a split 3‑2 ruling that nullified the Ibadan convention. The judgment gave the Wike camp the legal upper hand, and the commission has since formally acknowledged the caretaker committee – whose representatives now sit at the commission’s quarterly consultative meetings with political parties.
In a pointed rebuttal, the PDP Publicity Secretary aligned with Wike, Jungudo Mohammed, said the Turaki group had simply run out of road. “Unfortunately for them, lies have an expiry date, and INEC has issued us the codes to upload the names of our candidates,” he told reporters. “Nigerians have known that Turaki and his friends are just noisemakers. Let them continue. The activities of Turaki and others are not affecting our operations in any way”.
But the Turaki faction has not surrendered. Ememobong noted that the party’s Board of Trustees, chaired by Adolphus Wabara, had reappointed Turaki and his colleagues to an Interim National Working Committee after the Supreme Court’s ruling. He insisted that the faction continues to sell nomination forms and conduct primaries, even without INEC monitoring. “This is a marathon. No one is in doubt that we are not running a sprint,” he said. “Darkness may be everywhere, but when light shines, weeping will stop, and darkness will evacuate”.
The practical consequence of INEC’s decision is straightforward: only candidates submitted through the Wike‑backed structure will appear on the commission’s portal for the 2027 elections. Without the official upload code, Turaki’s faction cannot put its aspirants on the ballot by themselves – a potentially fatal blow to their political ambitions.
However, the Turaki camp has pointed to ongoing appeals at the Court of Appeal that they hope will overturn the Supreme Court’s decision. “We assure that the Rebirth movement of our party, under the able leadership of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, is steady and secure, and will ultimately surmount all these challenges to present a stronger and more united party to Nigerians,” Ememobong said.
For now, INEC has made its choice, and the upload code is with the Wike camp. The Turaki faction may be in the fight of its political life – but it is not yet ready to concede.
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