PDP Leadership Feud: Unity is Welcome, but Ties to APC are Unacceptable — Turaki-led National Working Committee

The Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has expressed its willingness to engage in reconciliation efforts to resolve the party's leadership dispute, but with the caveat that the process must not compromise the party's autonomy or reduce it to an appendage of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

This stance comes on the heels of advice from the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Ibadan Division, which encouraged the parties involved in the dispute to explore reconciliation, given the tight timeline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2027 general elections.

The PDP's National Working Committee, NWC, has emphasized that as an opposition party, it is imperative for the PDP to provide robust opposition and maintain its independence, rather than becoming an extension of the ruling APC, as stated by the NWC.

Ini Ememobong, the spokesman for the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the party's NWC, articulated this position during an exclusive interview with Vanguard, in response to the court's advice and a communiqué issued by the party's Board of Trustees, urging feuding stakeholders to pursue reconciliation.

The latest development has sparked fresh concerns about the stability of the PDP as it gears up for the 2027 general elections, with the faction led by Kabiru Turaki insisting that any reconciliation efforts must be conditional.

According to Ememobong, the faction is committed to respecting the advice of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, and the communiqué issued by the party's Board of Trustees, which urged all sides to pursue reconciliation, in deference to these advisories.

However, Ememobong stressed that the ultimate goal of reconciliation should be to bolster the party, rather than undermining its strength or obscuring its role as the country's primary opposition party.

The Kabiru Turaki-led faction maintains that while reconciliation may help alleviate tensions within the PDP, it is crucial that the party's independence and its position as a viable alternative to the ruling APC are preserved.