By Parrot Newspaper 
PDP Crisis Explode as Wike Accuses Makinde of Betrayal Ahead of NEC Showdown
By Ricky Awodi| May 26, 2025
ISSN 3092-8435 | www.parrotnewspaper.com
A fierce storm is sweeping through the ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as internal rivalries threaten to derail the party’s long-anticipated 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for May 27.
At the heart of the crisis lies a deepening power tussle between two influential southern figures — the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde. The once formidable allies are now locked in a political battle that could shatter the party’s fragile unity.
In a bold statement issued Sunday, Wike formally withdrew from the PDP’s ongoing reconciliation efforts, accusing Governors Makinde and Peter Mbah of Enugu of violating previously agreed terms and fanning the flames of discord.
“The party has been hijacked by dishonesty and treachery,” Wike declared in his signed statement titled “PDP Crisis: My Position.” He pointed fingers directly at Makinde, calling him the “chief architect of betrayal.”
Wike’s move comes as PDP stakeholders scramble to salvage the May 27 NEC meeting — a gathering already postponed multiple times due to unresolved internal wranglings. The party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) is convening an emergency session in Abuja today, as tensions reach a critical breaking point.
Sources within the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) told Parrot Newspaper that party elders are alarmed by the scale of the rift. A last-ditch reconciliation meeting, spearheaded by former Senate President Bukola Saraki, was reportedly held late Sunday with key governors and power brokers in attendance. But consensus remains elusive.
The roots of the conflict run deep. The PDP has been plagued by internecine strife before and after the 2023 elections, with major flare-ups over the South-South Zonal Congress, the position of National Secretary, and more recently, the North Central Zonal Congress.
Wike, supported by Governors Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Ahmadu Fintiri (Taraba), and others, is said to be incensed over what he perceives as attempts by Governors Makinde, Mbah, and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) to sideline his political bloc and alter the party’s power structure.
Though the party’s major organs — the NEC, BoT, NWC, and the Governors’ Forum — have all attempted interventions, these have deepened fractures rather than healed them.
Efforts to convene the 99th NEC meeting have floundered under the weight of these divisions. Initially slated for August 2024, the meeting has now been postponed at least four times, with each new date — October 24, November 28, March 13, May 15 — succumbing to internal resistance.
Finally, during a tense governors’ session in Ibadan on April 11, the date of May 27 was agreed upon. To pave the way, a seven-member peace panel, led by Saraki, was constituted to address grievances and enforce prior resolutions. But the effort may have already collapsed under political pressure.
One major bone of contention remains the National Secretaryship of Senator Samuel Anyanwu. Wike insists that Anyanwu’s position, backed by a Supreme Court verdict, must be respected — a demand resisted by Makinde, Mbah, and others, who have backed alternative candidates.
Wike revealed that during a G5 meeting in Lagos and later at Saraki’s residence in Abuja, several resolutions were unanimously adopted — including the withdrawal of all legal cases related to Rivers State and recognition of Anyanwu as National Secretary. Yet, he claims, those agreements were “cruelly violated before the ink could dry.”
“It is disheartening,” he lamented, “that the very foundation of unity we hoped to build upon is being eroded by those who place ambition above principle.”
With the NEC meeting hanging in the balance, the PDP now stands at a crossroads — torn between the need for internal justice and a desperate bid for survival ahead of the 2027 general elections.
PDP Crisis
As the clock ticks down to May 27, will the PDP implode — or rise from its ashes?