A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Sani, has said the party is currently operating without a clear leadership bloc, describing it as an “orphan” lacking direction.
Sani made the remark on Wednesday while speaking on The Morning Show on Arise Television, where he addressed the internal crisis rocking Nigeria’s main opposition party.
According to him, the PDP’s immediate concern is not the possibility of being unable to participate in future elections, but the urgent need to rebuild its internal structure and restore unity among its members.
He explained that the party is presently functioning without strong guidance from any faction, a situation he said has left the organisation standing without effective leadership.
“The issue we have tried to face now is not the existential threat of not participating in the election but trying to put the soul of the party in a proper shape and form,” Sani said.
“As it is now, the party is not being driven by anybody. It is just standing alone, not driven by any side.”
Sani also stated that the authority claimed by allies of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to constitute the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had been nullified by the court.
He explained that the Court of Appeal ruled that members of the group were under suspension at the time they carried out those actions and therefore lacked the legitimacy to perform official party functions.
“The authority which the Nyesom Wike people said they had, and with which they formed their Board of Trustees and NEC, was quashed because the court maintained that those people were under suspension at that time and could not have performed any legitimate function of the party,” he said.
Sani added that reconciliation remains the only viable path forward for the party.
He noted that the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan had advised both factions to resolve their differences internally by reviewing contested lists and reaching a consensus that could subsequently be adopted by the court as a binding judgment.
According to him, such a move would help stabilise the party and restore confidence among its members ahead of future political activities.
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