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Wike Not Destabilizing Party, Seeking Justice, Equity – Ohuabunwa
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sam Ohuabunwa, has said that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is only seeking justice and equity, and not trying to destabilise the party.
Mr Ohuabunwa stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
The PDP has been enmeshed in a crisis after the party presidential primary in May.
Mr Wike was a presidential aspirant of the PDP. He lost to Nigeria’s former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.
Aggrieved after the primary election, Mr Wike accused the party of betraying him and breaching its constitution. He subsequently demanded the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu – a criterion he said must be met before he discusses giving support to Atiku in next year’s poll.
The Rivers State governor’s argument is that both Mr Ayu and the party presidential candidate, Atiku, come from northern Nigeria.
Although Walid Jibrin, the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), later resigned his position in response to allegations of imbalance in the party leadership, Mr Wike insisted that Mr Ayu must relinquish his office for the party to have peace.
Mr Wike said BoT chairmanship is not “a key” leadership position in the party.
Mr Ohuabunwa, who said he has been speaking with the Wike and Atiku’s groups in the party, stressed that the Rivers governor is seeking to correct the wrongs that were done in the PDP in the past.
“The truth is that Mr Wike is not crying wolves. He is demanding justice. He is demanding equity. And that is right for him to do,” he said.
Mr Ohuabunwa, a former presidential aspirant of the PDP, urged the national leadership of the party to show “empathy” and heed the governor’s demand.
“Why is everybody going to Mr Wike? It shows that he has a moral right in this matter. There is something that all of us understood has been done wrongly and that’s why all the emissaries are going to him,” Mr Ohuabunwa stated.
The former presidential aspirant, however, expressed optimism that the crisis would be resolved as soon as the party leadership shows “empathy and understanding” in the matter.
“I don’t think Mr Wike is impossible to deal with. He has shown that he is a team player when the team is a reasonable team,” he stated.
“I think that the party has finally come to understand the enormity of the crisis. The party seems to have woken up to the need not to allow this internal disagreement become a major albatross to its chances of winning elections,” the PDP chieftain said.
“For me, it (the meetings with opposition parties) is a way of advertising our party and I believe that those APC and other party leaders that are going there (Rivers State) is a way of sanctioning and endorsing the kind of quality leaders and performances that PDP has and Mr Wike is a poster boy in that regard,” Mr Ohuabunwa added.
Premium Times
The Supreme Court has vacated the order of the Court of Appeal which barred the recognition of David Mark as the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
The apex court on Thursday held that the preservative order by the Court of Appeal was in bad faith, unnecessary, unwarranted and improper.
In a unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court, Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba held that the Court of Appeal ought not to have made such order because it was not sought by any of the parties in the matter.
The Court of Appeal had issued an order of status quo antem bellum upon which the ADC exco under David Mark was de-recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
With the vacation of the order, David Mark and the other national officers are to be recognized as ADC leaders by the electoral body.
The convention produced the Tanimu Turaki-led factional national executives of the party.
Attention has shifted to the Supreme Court, which has fixed April 30 (today) for judgment in the leadership tussle within the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
A five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba will resolve the appeal filed by the David Mark-led faction concerning the authentic leadership of the party.
Also on Thursday, the court is expected to determine the leadership dispute rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Two PDP factions—one led by Kabir Turaki and the other by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike—are laying claim to the leadership of the party.
The Supreme Court had on April 22 reserved judgment in the ADC crisis to a date to be communicated to the parties involved in the tussle.
However, on Tuesday, the ADC formally wrote to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, pleading for the quick delivery of judgment in the leadership tussle at the national level.
The party claimed it would suffer irreparable harm if judgment in the protracted battle was not delivered within the period allowed by the Electoral Act for fielding candidates for the 2027 general elections.
It stated in part: “Without the delivery of judgment within the next three days from the date of this letter, the ADC stands the grave and irreversible risk of being excluded from participating in the 2027 general elections.
“This would disenfranchise millions of Nigerians who have subscribed to the ideals of the ADC and deny them their constitutional right to freely associate and contest elections through a political party of their choice.”
At the April 22 hearing, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, who represented David Mark, urged the Supreme Court to allow the appeal, arguing that the apex court had earlier, on March 21, 2025, held that “no court has jurisdiction to entertain matters bordering on the internal affairs of political parties.”
During the hearing, Okutepa urged the apex court to hold that the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
However, Robert Emukperu, SAN, who represented the first respondent, Nafiu Gombe, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the judgment of the lower court, which held that the suit was premature.
It will be recalled that a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal dismissed Mark’s appeal, ruling that it was premature and filed without leave of the trial court.
In the PDP matter, the first appeal, marked SC/CV/164/2026, stems from a decision of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who restrained the party from proceeding with its planned convention pending the determination of a suit filed by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido.
On November 14, the court issued a final order restraining the PDP from conducting its national convention.
Justice Lifu held that Lamido was “unjustly denied” the opportunity to obtain a nomination form to contest for national chairman, in violation of the PDP constitution and internal regulations.
The Court of Appeal later upheld the decision on March 9, prompting the PDP to appeal.
The second appeal, SC/CV/166/2026, was filed by the PDP, its National Working Committee (NWC), and National Executive Committee (NEC).
It arose from a judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho, which stopped the party from holding its Ibadan national convention.
The Court of Appeal upheld that decision, agreeing that INEC should not validate the outcome of the convention.
After hearing all arguments, the Supreme Court reserved judgment, stating that the date would be communicated to the parties.
