The National Caucus meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ended on Monday without reaching any major decision.
Key figures in the party, including the PDP Governors’ Forum, the Board of Trustees (BoT), and a peace committee led by former Senate President Bukola Saraki, are expected to reconvene today, Tuesday, to chart a way forward after the repeated delays of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
After nearly three hours of discussions in Abuja, the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, told reporters that the meeting would continue today at 10 a.m.
However, notable absences from the meeting caught attention. Former Vice Presidents Atiku Abubakar and Namadi Sambo, along with ex-Senate President David Mark and former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, were not present. Their absence raised more questions about unity within the party, especially with the 99th NEC meeting—originally scheduled for May 27—still up in the air.
Internal problems have shaken the PDP before and after the 2023 elections. The situation in Rivers State, disagreements over the South South Zonal Congress, the ongoing battle over the position of National Secretary, and tensions in the North Central region have added to the party’s growing list of issues.
Some decisions made by the National Working Committee (NWC) and governors, particularly influenced by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, Enugu’s Peter Mbah, and Bauchi’s Bala Mohammed, have reportedly angered Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and others. Wike, unhappy with how his allies are being treated, announced on Sunday that he was withdrawing from earlier peace agreements and vowed to continue pushing back.
Adding to the confusion, the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja was sealed by the FCT Authority taskforce on Monday due to unpaid ground rent. This forced the BoT to move its scheduled meeting from Wadata Plaza to the party’s Legacy House in Maitama, where it ultimately did not hold.
Despite attempts by various organs of the PDP—NWC, BoT, NEC, and Governors’ Forum—to fix the crisis, the conflicts have only spread further, halting major decisions and creating disorder across different zones.
The last NEC meeting held on April 18, 2024, ended without resolving key disagreements. The planned 99th NEC meeting has faced repeated postponements, shifting from August to October, then to November, and finally being suspended without a new date.
Under pressure from party members, the PDP Governors’ Forum in December 2024 asked the NWC to ensure a NEC meeting was held by February. That deadline came and went. Even after a January meeting in Asaba proposed March 13 and a later meeting in Ibadan agreed on May 27, the meeting remains uncertain.
To manage the tension, a seven-member team of past and serving governors was formed under Saraki to address lingering disputes. But by Monday evening, even after hours of talks, no resolution was reached.
Speaking to the press, Damagum said, “As you can see, we just adjourned our meeting for today (Monday) till tomorrow (today) 10am… We just set up a small committee that would give us a report and tomorrow (today) morning, we’ll continue.”
Asked whether the NEC meeting would still hold, he replied, “When you come tomorrow (today), we will answer this question after our meeting.”
Sources at the closed-door session said Saraki’s group was expected to meet with more leaders Monday night to finalize a solution. According to one attendee, “These solution-based reports will set the pace to reopen peace discussions and determine if the NEC meeting can hold as scheduled.”
