The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its ongoing 2025 National Convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, has expelled FCT minister Nyesom Wike, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), former Governor of ekiti Ayo Fayose, Hon. Austin Nwachukwu, and several others.
The decision which was promptly ratified by an overwhelming majority of delegates, underscores the party’s commitment to eradicating internal divisions and anti-party conduct that have plagued its progress.
The convention also saw the dissolution of PDP executive councils in Rivers, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Plateau states.
This brings an end to rifts between pro-Wike forces and the Damagum-led national leadership.
Wike and Fayose were pillars of the PDP at different times, Wike as former Rivers State governor and now Minister of the FCT under the APC-led federal government, and Fayose as two-term governor of Ekiti State.
Wike led the powerful G-5 governors’ bloc that openly rebelled against the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, insisting that the party’s national chairman should come from the South if the presidential ticket remained in the North.
Wike repeatedly attacked the PDP leadership in public, openly hosted and campaigned with APC figures, and later accepted President Bola Tinubu’s appointment as FCT Minister without resigning from the PDP.
Fayose, on his part, frequently criticised his own party’s decisions, at various times backing southern presidency agitation while still sending mixed signals about his loyalty to the PDP. He also publicly praised President Tinubu after the elections and adopted a combative stance against some PDP leaders, which many within the party interpreted as undermining its cohesion.