PDP Govs, Wike’s Loyalists in Battle Over Chairmanship, Secretary

*Governors may settle for Shekarau, FCT minister’s camp pushes for Ortom

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

As the November 16, 2025 National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) approaches, the governors elected on the party’s platform and the loyalists of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike are in fresh battle of wits for the positions of the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the main opposition party, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.

THISDAY gathered that both the PDP governors and Wike’s camp are of the view that the next national chairman of the PDP should be a former governor, to command respect from party faithful.
However, following the failure of the Governor Douye Diri-led zoning committee of the party, which zoned the position of the national chairman to the North, to micro-zone it to any geopolitical zone, the governors may have settled for the former governor of Kano State, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, from the North-west.

On their part, Wike’s loyalists, who were formerly considering Hon. T.J. Yusuf from Kogi State as their candidate, are said to be rooting for the former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, from the North-central.
 Ortom was a former Benue State secretary of PDP, former deputy state chairman, and the National Auditor before he became a minister and governor for eight years.

THISDAY gathered that Ortom’s national chairmanship ambition is the reason the Wike’s camp is insisting that the national chairman should be retained by the North-central, and rejected the micro-zoning of the office to Shekarau’s North-west.
Investigation also revealed that the PDP governors and Wike’s group disagreed on the zoning of the office of the national secretary.

The three zonal chairmen of the party from the South have zoned the office of national secretary, which is currently in the South-east, to the South-west.
The party’s stakeholders are contending that since Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State could emerge as the presidential candidate of the party, it would be unfair to zone the office of the national secretary to the South-west.
Consequently, this position was swapped with the office of the deputy national chairman.

It was also for this same reason that the office of the national chairman was moved from the North-east, which is the zone of the outgoing national chairman, Ambassador Illya Damagum, due to the presumption that the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, who is from the same zone, could aspire to become Makinde’s running mate.
 With these developments, the office of the National Chairman was zoned to the North-west, while the zoning of the National Secretary to the South-west was also being reviewed.  

In a document sighted by THISDAY, the zoning arrangement was formalised in a memo dated September 1, 2025, and signed by the three National Vice Chairmen from the South – Dr. Ali Odefa (South-east), Ajisafe Kamorudeen (South-west), and Chief Emmanuel Ogidi (South-south).

In the document, the South-east was allocated the office of the National Financial Secretary (NFS), Deputy National Secretary (DNS), National Women’s Leader (NWL), and Deputy National Youth Leader (DNYL).

 The South-west got the positions of the National Secretary (NS), National Auditor (NA), and Deputy National Organising Secretary (DNOS)
 Also, the South-south was allocated the positions of the Deputy National Chairman–South (DNC-S), National Publicity Secretary (NPS), Deputy National Treasurer (DNT), and the Deputy National Legal Adviser (DNLA).
But the outgoing National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has kicked against the proposals by the three zonal chairmen.

He said he was unaware of the said zoning agreement in the South-east.
Anyanwu, who is Wike’s close political ally, told THISDAY that one of the signatories to the said letter, Ali Odefa, is no longer a member of the party.

But reacting to Anyanwu’s claim, Odefa, who signed the letter as the South-east zonal chairman, also told THISDAY that he would not join those who decided to go so low.
THISDAY gathered that Anyanwu kicked against the move to zone the party’s national secretary to the South-west, arguing that it could effectively tilt the balance of power in the party’s secretariat in favour of the South-west and boost Makinde’s presidential ambition.

Makinde is locked in a supremacy battle with Wike.
 Wike’s loyalists described the zoning of the offices as unfair and unacceptable.
The FCT minister’s camp had rejected any form of micro-zoning and called for an inclusive national convention where all would be allowed to contest in line with the zoning arrangements by Governor Diri’s zoning committee.

Competent sources told THISDAY that Makinde and the South-east stakeholders are lobbying to retain the office of the national secretary in their respective states.
 The contest for the national secretary was what nearly marred the recent stakeholders’ meeting of the PDP in Lagos.

 THISDAY gathered that the South-west is plotting that the deputy national chairman, Taofeek Arapaja, becomes the new national secretary, thus moving the deputy national chairman to the South-south
 The three zonal chairmen of South-east, South-west, and South-south in their jointly signed sharing letter have agreed to this.

THISDAY was told that the South-south is also rooting for the office of the National Publicity Secretary, which is currently held by Ondo State.
The office of the National Auditor currently held by Anambra State is said to have been zoned to Abia State.
The position of Wike’s camp is that Odefa can’t negotiate for the zone to the extent of signing the letter, having been sacked by an Ebonyi State High Court.

The minister’s loyalists also noted that Odefa has not challenged his sack by the High Court.
 In the South-east, the Wike’s camp said that the recognised South-east chairman is Chidi Ebere Egwu, as directed by the Ebonyi State High Court.
 Meanwhile, the Cross River State chapter of PDP has broken ranks with the Wike-led faction of the party by unveiling its chairmanship candidate for the September 27 Congress.

The party’s caucus in Cross River Central senatorial district on Thursday unveiled Tim Ekawu as their candidate for the forthcoming state congress, insisting that they have no apologies for taking the stand.
 With the latest development, the district has now joined the southern senatorial district, which had earlier on Wednesday also pledged its support for Ekawu, in defiance of the position of the state party caucus considered loyal to Wike.

Rising from their stakeholders’ meeting, the Central senatorial district caucus unanimously argued that Wike is now a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and is not in any position to dictate what happens in the PDP.
 In a communique signed by Anthony Edako, who is also the state secretary of the PDP, the caucus endorsed the party’s decision regarding the date and venue for the national convention.

The post PDP Govs, Wike’s Loyalists in Battle Over Chairmanship, Secretary appeared first on THISDAYLIVE.

​  

  • Related Posts

    FG Denies Releasing Osun’s Withheld LG Funds to APC Chairmen

    FG Denies Releasing Osun’s Withheld LG Funds to APC Chairmen

    *As court decides whether suit can be heard October 16

    Alex Enumah in Abuja

    The federal government on Monday denied that it has released the witheld Osun State Local Government financial allocation to chairmen and councillors of the All Progressives Congress in 2022.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) made the denial at the resumed hearing of the suit challenging the planned release of the LG funds to the APC chairmen and councillors.

    The Osun State Government had dragged the CBN and AGF to court challenging the federal government’s action on the grounds that the said APC chairmen and councillors have been sacked by the Federal High Court in Osogbo, over controversies surrounding their election.

    Meanwhile, pending commencement of hearing in the suit, the federal government last month applied for expedited hearing of the suit by a vacation court, due to the limited time for the expiration of the tenure of the LG officials, who are due to vacate office come October 22.

    At the resumed hearing by Justice Emeka Nwite who sat as a vacation judge, before moving their motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court to continue hearing in the matter, lawyer to the Osun State Government, Mr Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, informed the court that despite the pendency of the suit and the order of the court that status quo should be maintained, the defendants have gone ahead to release the allocation to the APC chairmen and councillors through a special account opened for them at the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.

    He however disclosed that the plaintiff in a swift reaction approached a High Court of Oyo State and secured a restraining order stopping the bank from disbursing the said funds.

    The senior lawyer explained that his client had to get the restraining order from the neighboring state as the court in Osun State have been on strike.

    Adetunbi further told Justice Nwite that the restraining order had been served on the bank and the defendants, adding that he does not have documentary evidence with him at the moment.

    Responding, Murtala Abdulrasheed and Tajudeen Oladoja, both SANs, who represented the CBN and AGF respectively, denied that their client have effected the release of the money to the APC local government chairmen as alleged by the plaintiffs.

    In their separate submissions the two senior lawyers insisted that the information by the plaintiff counsel remains in the realms of rumours in the absence of documentary evidence.

    They subsequently urged the court to discountenance the claim of the plaintiff and proceed with the business of the day which is the hearing of the motion challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

    They pleaded with the court not to grant the request for adjournment by the plaintiff on the grounds that time is already running out on the APC chairmen and councillors, whose tenure would expire on October 22.

    In his motion seeking to transfer hearing in the case to the Osogbo division of the Federal High Court, Adetunbi argued that since the vacation of the court had ended, the suit should be transferred to where it was originally instituted.

    He insisted that transferring the suit from Osogbo to Abuja was in bad faith because there was no urgency to warrant such action.

    Specifically, he said that the letter transferring the case by the Chief Judge (CJ) of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, gave untenable reason that all the defendants are based in Abuja, adding that such reason ought not to have come from the Chief Judge except the defendants.

    But the defendants however opposed the submissions of the plaintiff, stressing that the letter transferring the case from Osogbo to Abuja made it clear that the Abuja court should hear the suit expeditiously.

    They argued that transferring a case by the CJ was an administrative decision that cannot be challenged by the Osun State Government.

    After listening to arguments of all parties, Justice Nwite subsequently fixed October 16, for ruling on wether or not the suit should be returned to Osogbo for continuation of hearing.

    ​  

    *As court decides whether suit can be heard October 16 Alex Enumah in Abuja The federal government on Monday denied that it has released the witheld Osun State Local Government

    BREAKING: Bandits Abduct Youth Leader’s Sons In Daylight Raid On Kwara Village

    The victims were reportedly seized around 1:30 p.m. while returning from their farm.  ArticlesRead More 

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Business & Economy

    Strike: Court restrains PENGASSAN from cutting gas supply to Dangote refinery

    Strike: Court restrains PENGASSAN from cutting gas supply to Dangote refinery

    CPPE calls for stronger social protection measures to sustain Nigeria’s economic gains 

    CBN’s shift to orthodox monetary policy restores investor confidence – Ugo Obi-Chukwu 

    CJN reveals Supreme Court delivered 369 judgments from 2,280 matters in one year  

    FAAN launches contactless payments at Lagos, Abuja Airports

    Strike: PENGASSAN shuts down NNPC, NMDPRA, NUPRC headquarters

    Strike: PENGASSAN shuts down NNPC, NMDPRA, NUPRC headquarters

    Independence Day: FG declares October 1 public holiday

    Explore Kapital Villa by Mshel Homes  

    Nigeria Police Academy begins screening for 12th Regular Course on October 6 

    Trump to impose 100% tariff on foreign-made films 

    FG secures N250 billion for Kaduna, Kano light rail projects 

    MTN Group backs Nigeria’s push for African language AI datasets 

    NELFUND to close 2024/2025 session loan application September 30 

    Utility-Scale Solar EPC and BESS projects take root in Nigeria 

    FCMB converts N23bn loan to shares, lists 3.16bn units on NGX

    Why 25% CGT for share sale is self-inflicted wound for Nigeria

    Tinubu makes NERD compliance mandatory for NYSC mobilisation 

    Lagos unveils two-year flood plan to integrate lakes, canals

    NGX Group forges stronger policy-market alignment through dialogue on Tax Reforms 

    Naira trades at N1,485/$ on Monday as Dollar index falls  

    Investing in health, securing our future: Leading the way with Nnobi

    Top NGX oil and gas companies by revenue in H1 2025 

    Top 10 most profitable consumer goods companies in Nigeria, H1 2025 

    Nigeria’s top 10 most downloaded fintech apps in Q3 2025 

    Otedola files N1 billion libel suit against Umar Sani, denies subsidy allegations

    Fidelity, NPF Microfinance Bank, CAP top stock pick this week

    Fidelity, NPF Microfinance Bank, CAP top stock pick this week

    Why Nigeria’s external reserves is at a 6-year high 

    Financial reporting: Half-yearly vs quarterly debate for Nigerian companies 

    Dangote Refinery vs PENGASSAN: Consumer Forum warns of fuel queues in Nigeria  

    The Initiates Plc: Profit on track for N2 billion, dividend may double in 2025

    Electric Vehicles: Richard Akpodiete outlines Nigeria’s path to adoption 

    Nigerian govt meets Dangote over PENGASSAN concerns, assures steady petrol supply

    Nigerian govt meets Dangote over PENGASSAN concerns, assures steady petrol supply

    FG asks PENGASSAN to suspend strike over Dangote Refinery dispute

    NiMet predicts 3-day thunderstorms, rainfall nationwide

    At UNGA, Solewant Group Joins Global Oil Industry, Maritime Leaders to Unlock $800bn Opportunities in Gulf of Guinea

    Stock Market Up N216bn WoW Buoyed by Rate Cut