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Nigeria’s Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has accused Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde of deceit and fraud, as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faces ongoing lawsuits and an internal crisis.
Wike, during a media chat on Wednesday, said Makinde initiated a lawsuit against the party’s leadership when disputes over party leadership, primaries, and internal processes arose, and factions emerged.
“He went to court at the Federal High Court in Ibadan. We didn’t go to court. And that is why it baffles me. I thought Seyi Makinde is a young man. I didn’t know he was involved in 419 (fraud). He went to court. I never went to court. He went to the federal high court to revalidate us,” he said.
“The national convention we held in November, which took the federal high court judgment to say, do not go ahead with this. He convened the ‘Amala convention’ in contravention of the Supreme Court judgment. After we had finished, he went to the Federal High Court to determine the recognition of the party’s leadership. We got wind of it, and we applied to join. Judgment was given. It is very unfortunate. He then came back to the court to recognise him despite having disobeyed the court’s judgment.”
Wike also dared Makinde and his faction to set up a secretariat for their faction and open an account where nominees will pay nomination fees.
“You have refused to tell the public what is on the ground. And you are coming out to say you are setting up a caretaker committee. How? And you are deceiving people. Let me see an office you will name PDP,” he added.
“Let me dare them. Open office anywhere in Abuja. You don’t do secretariat in your bedroom or in your parlour. If you say you are a party. Go and put a sign in the national secretariat. If you are saying you want to sell form. To who? You will submit it where? Is that not fraud? You went to court, and the court rendered judgment against you. You are now coming to deceive people. You are setting up a caretaker committee.”
The PDP has been embroiled in an internal crisis since 2023, following the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate. A group of governors led by Wike demanded the resignation of the national chairman.
The group, popularly called the G5 governors, including Seyi Makinde, refused to support Atiku in the 2023 election. After losing the 2023 presidential election, the PDP struggled with internal cohesion. Several internal disputes continued across states and party organs.
Multiple parallel structures and factions emerged within the party. Disputes over party leadership, primaries, and internal processes increasingly moved to the courts. Courts began intervening in what the PDP often described as “internal affairs.”
A Federal High Court in Abuja restrained the PDP from holding its national convention, but Makinde’s faction held a convention, which Wike described as an “amala convention”. The convention produced a factional leadership.
This led to prolonged litigation. The Court of Appeal also upheld the earlier Federal High Court ruling, declared the 2025 convention unlawful, and faulted the PDP for violating the constitution, the Electoral Act, and its own rules.
In April 2026, the Supreme Court invalidated the 2025 factional convention and nullified the leadership that emerged from it. This triggered a leadership reset, with the Board of Trustees stepping in.
Following the ruling, Wike publicly declared the party’s crisis had been resolved, but the factions still exist.
