A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) breakaway group, loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed claims that an opposing camp, led by Mr Kabiru Turaki, SAN, has been officially recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Turaki had, last week, displayed official documents purported to have been obtained from INEC by the leadership of his camp, claiming that the documents were a proof of recognition of his leadership by the electoral umpire.
Turaki made the claim while presenting a certificate of return to the PDP candidate in the June 2026 Ekiti State governorship election, Dr Oluwole Oluyede.
Disputing Turaki’s claim, the national chairman of the Wike camp, Abdulrahman Mohammed, said the PDP only has a national caretaker working committee in place, describing himself as the caretaker chairman.
According to the camp, the said official INEC documents paraded by Turaki were found in the office of the then PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature.
Giving further explanations, Bature, who was party of the meeting, said the particular INEC documents are available to every political party that had presented candidates for election at one point or the other.
“Turaki and his people collected those documents from my office. Every political party keeps those documents in their secretariat.
“The documents provide for spaces to be filled in when parties are submitting names of their candidates during elections so there is nothing new about the documents,” Bature said.
A communique read by Mohammed after a meeting of the group, stated that the PDP remains strong and indivisible, adding, “There is only one genuine and legitimate PDP, headed by Honorable Abdulrahman Mohammed.”
The group warned “anybody putting the image of the party to disrepute” to refrain from that forthwith.
It emphasised that it’s important to let the public know that the claims by Turaki and his camp that they have been recognised by INEC were false.
“We therefore challenge Turaki to produce the code with which he uploaded his Exco to INEC portal,” Abdulrahman Mohammed said.
Continuing, he said, “The National Caretaker Committee further ratified the dissolution of some state working committees while confirming the caretaker committees in those states.
“The National Caretaker Committee further assigned portfolios to some of its members for effective discharge of the duties conferred on them.
“The people are Professor Adenike Ogunse, Women Leader; Engineer Deji Doherty, Deputy National Secretary; Senator Olaka Ogunwu, Treasurer; Honorable Jungu Haruna Mohammed, Publicity; and Ambassador Dr. Ibrahim Bala-Aboki to function as the youth leader.
“Finally, the committee has approved the calendar for the conduct of state congresses, starting from January 9th, 2026, after which the national convention follows.”
He listed Borno, Bauchi, Oyo, Zamfara, Yobi, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Delta, Taraba, Kano, and Lagos as states where the leadership had been dissolved.