The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kabiru Turaki, on Tuesday officially resumed duties at the party’s National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja, following hours of tension between rival factions.
Turaki arrived alongside Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, where he addressed journalists after settling into his office.
He praised party stakeholders for what he called their “resilience” and “courage” in standing firm amid attempts to destabilise the party.
“I want to thank all of you for your resilience, for your courage, for your resoluteness in this struggle to take over our party, our property, and in doing so, to save democracy,” he said.
According to Turaki, Tuesday’s confrontation lasted several hours as his loyalists clashed with “renegade members” expelled during last Saturday’s national convention in Ibadan.
“For the past seven hours, Nigerians are living witnesses to the struggle we’ve been engaged in with those renegade members of our party that were expelled in our national convention in Ibadan. They came here with armed thugs, as we predicted, to disrupt our meetings, but we were able to contain them effectively,” he stated.
The Ibadan convention had resulted in the expulsion of several notable figures—including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), former Ekiti Governor Ayo Fayose, and Austin Nwachukwu—over alleged anti-party activities. In response, the Wike-backed faction later announced its own expulsions, targeting Bode George, former BoT Chairman Adolphus Wabara, and Turaki himself, further deepening the internal feud.
Turaki said his group had now secured full control of the secretariat, declaring: “Now, we have driven them out of the secretariat, and as you can see, I have entered my office. I have assumed leadership as the elected chairman.”
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He stressed, however, that the battle for control of the PDP was far from over.
“This struggle is a continuing one. We will remain relentless; we will continue to fight,” he asserted.
Turaki also took aim at the Federal Government, alleging that a serving minister played an active role in the disruption earlier in the day.
“The president should call his minister to order. The kind of conduct that the minister got himself engaged in this morning is unbecoming. How can a serving minister lead thugs to disrupt a legally arranged meeting?” he queried.
He warned that the situation could have escalated into violence.
“If we had not exercised restraint… There would have been bloodshed here. We were tear-gassed — more than 50 canisters were shot at us — but we remain relentless,” he added.
Turaki vowed to mobilise PDP supporters nationwide if the attacks persist.
“Should this continue, I will not hesitate to call all members of PDP in Nigeria to assemble here.”
He also called on the international community to take note of the developments.
“You’ve seen what is happening… the attempts now openly being made to destroy and stifle democracy. We will defend democracy. We are prepared to lay down our lives to nurture this nascent democracy,” he said.
Despite the tension, he praised party members for maintaining calm under pressure.
“This shows that we in PDP are peace-loving and law-abiding, but that does not mean we will not defend our integrity or our lives if threatened,” he noted.
Tuesday’s events followed a chaotic morning as Turaki’s and Wike’s factions stormed Wadata Plaza for parallel NEC and BoT meetings, prompting heavy security deployment to prevent further escalation.