Wike

By Franklin Ojo

The late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti once described a “roforofo fight” as a messy brawl where any weapon is fair game if it helps you win. That appears to capture the current turmoil within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where factions are deploying every possible tool, legal, political, and personal to gain control ahead of the party’s national convention.

Several party chieftains are already in court, seeking to halt the convention. Others are locked in disputes over the authenticity of documents purportedly sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in preparation for the event. Allegations also abound that certain elements within the party are working behind the scenes to weaken or even destroy the PDP before the 2027 general elections, a move believed to be in favour of their preferred presidential candidate.

The stakes are high as the PDP prepares to elect a new National Working Committee (NWC) at the forthcoming convention in Ibadan, Oyo State. But unity remains elusive. While a group of northern leaders recently announced a “consensus” National Chairman, another bloc from the region swiftly disowned the move. The controversy deepened when the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, disowned documents allegedly signed by him and submitted to INEC regarding the convention’s preparations.

With multiple lawsuits challenging the legality of the proposed convention, uncertainty now hangs thick over the Ibadan event,  just weeks away. There are strong insinuations that powerful interests are intent on scuttling the process altogether.

Adding to the controversy, former PDP National Legal Adviser, Mr. Jacob Mark, has challenged Senator Anyanwu to substantiate his claims that his signature was forged on the convention documents. “The burden is on him to prove,” Mark stated during a live television interview, insisting that the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, had already debunked the forgery allegation.

Mark didn’t stop there. He accused some within the PDP of deliberately frustrating the convention and lamented the exodus of high-profile members to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). According to him, Nigeria’s democracy is “gradually breeding irresponsible individuals who no longer value integrity or trust.”

He also expressed deep concern over the growing impunity within the political system and what he described as the weakening of judicial institutions.

“The law, our courts, and institutions are being thrown to the dogs,” he warned. “You cannot contest an election or hold political office without a political party, yet individuals now act as if they are bigger than the parties, the courts, and even INEC.”

Citing historical cases such as that of former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi, Mark recalled how the courts once ruled that votes in an election belong to the political party, not the individual candidate. However, he lamented that subsequent conflicting judgments have eroded that principle, emboldening politicians to defect freely without consequence.

“We now have governors and lawmakers who switch parties at will, sometimes even waving flags of new parties on live television, yet the courts appear powerless,” he said. Institutions are being undermined, and the political class is running wild, unchecked and unaccountable.”

As the PDP battles internal divisions, legal disputes, and credibility crises, its ability to present a united front ahead of the 2027 elections remains uncertain, leaving the future of Nigeria’s main opposition party hanging in the balance.