ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The internal crisis within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deepened on Friday as the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, announced the dissolution of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) led by former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara.
The faction, citing loss of credibility and moral authority, inaugurated a new BoT under the supervision of its factional Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abdulrahman Muhammad, at a meeting convened by Wike at his official residence in Life Camp, Abuja.
In his remarks before the meeting went into a closed session, Muhammad said the reconstitution of the BoT was part of a broader effort to restore discipline, constitutional order, and moral direction within the PDP.
He lamented that these core values had been eroded under the previous leadership.
He said the new BoT, expected to be unveiled at the end of the meeting, would restore credibility and unity to the party.
According to him, the dissolved Wabara-led BoT had “lost the moral balance expected of that noble institution,” especially after Wabara was suspended by the Abia State chapter of the PDP for alleged anti-party activities.
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Muhammad said this suspension rendered Wabara’s continued leadership “untenable.”
“The Board that was meant to be the moral compass of our party became divided and ineffective. The credibility of that leadership was heavily questioned, and its continued role in national advisory matters became impossible to sustain,” Muhammad said.
He also blamed the tenure of the ‘suspended’ National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, for what he described as the party’s moral decay and failure to respect judicial authority.
Muhammad accused Damagum of shielding individuals who had violated the party’s constitution, preferring “convenience over the rule of law.”
“When any political party begins to disregard its own constitution and laws, it loses the very soul that holds it together. This was the painful reality we faced,” he stated.
The factional chairman praised three concerned members of the party who had sought judicial intervention to “save the PDP from itself,” explaining that their action led to the recent Federal High Court judgment that enabled the reconstitution of the BoT.
“The court judgment was not an attack on the PDP; it was a reminder that no institution is greater than the law,” Muhammad said, describing it as “a wake-up call to return to our roots and reawaken the values that once made the PDP the pride of Africa.”
He emphasized that the newly inaugurated BoT would serve as “a symbol of rebirth” and “the conscience and compass” of the PDP, adding that its members were selected based on integrity and fairness, not factional loyalty.
“This is not a reward for loyalty; it is a sacred trust. Your voices must be voices of unity, your advice rooted in fairness, and your actions must inspire confidence in our collective future,” Muhammad charged the new members.
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He admitted that the PDP’s internal decay began when it abandoned its zoning principle before the 2015 elections, allowing personal ambition to override fairness and equity.
Muhammad vowed that the new leadership would rebuild the party on transparency, justice, and obedience to court judgments.
“We will rebuild this party with transparency. We will respect court judgments and the rule of law. We will conduct our congresses with fairness and integrity. We will restore public trust and make the PDP once again the moral voice of Nigeria’s democracy,” he promised.
Muhammad stressed that the PDP would no longer use “internal affairs” as an excuse for impunity, insisting that party autonomy must operate within constitutional boundaries.
“Internal affairs must still operate under constitutional order. Party autonomy cannot mean lawlessness. We must reform or risk irrelevance,” he asserted.
Calling for unity and reform, Muhammad said, “Let history record that when the PDP stood at the edge of the precipice, men and women of goodwill rose to pull it back.
“Together, we can heal our party and restore the PDP as the true hope of Nigeria’s democratic future.”