Anxiety Mounts Over Fate Of 1,393 PDP NASS, State Assembly Candidates

Court rules on Turaki vs Wike faction Friday

The deepening leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may jeopardise the party’s participation in the 2027 general election, with candidates for 1,393 legislative seats nationwide at risk as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prepares to close its nomination portal.

With barely days to the deadline, the opposition party remains engulfed in a power struggle between the faction backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and another led by former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), raising fresh uncertainty over which group has the legal authority to submit the party’s candidates.

Under INEC’s revised timetable for the 2027 general election, political parties had until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, 11 July 2026, to upload the particulars of their presidential, Senate and House of Representatives candidates.

The commission is expected to receive nominations for governorship and State House of Assembly candidates from 18 July, with submissions closing on Saturday, 8 August 2026.

The leadership crisis stems from the battle for control of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), particularly the Office of National Secretary.

Rival meetings, conflicting resolutions, and competing claims to the party’s leadership had deepened divisions, resulting in court actions over which faction constitutes the PDP’s authentic leadership for electoral purposes.

The dispute has also been complicated by allegations from the Turaki-led faction that INEC has accorded preferential recognition to the rival faction backed by Wike.

Turaki-led faction’s cause is further spurred by the Wike group’s declared allegiance to President Tinubu’s re-election bid. Tinubu is the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who appointed Wike as a minister.

But Wike said the Turaki faction of the party is deceiving its candidates by collecting money from them.

Wike, however, noted that Turaki’s move would backfire because INEC had given – what he described as the authentic leadership of the party – access code to upload its candidate to the website.

The FCT minister made these comments during his monthly media chat on the state of the nation on Thursday in Abuja.

According to Wike, “When this thing (crisis) started, and I told the press that this thing that Turaki is doing, he has collected money from people, but it will backfire.

“Why will it backfire? Now, INEC has given access codes to recognised political parties. Have they given him an access code? So, which candidates will he sell forms to? They have given us an access code, and we are uploading our candidates, but you are not uploading your own candidates.

“They will tell the people, listen, there is still hope, and you must be the candidate because we will take legal action. Until the election finishes, that hope will still be there. When elections have not been held, they will continue to give them that kind of hope. So the issue of faction is that you people are making them believe there is still a faction. The mere fact that somebody disagrees with me does not constitute a faction, no.

“Which Secretariat do they have as a party? They don’t attend INEC meetings, and yet you still call them a faction.

“Tomorrow they will say this government is this and that; they are not a faction; those recognised to speak are the authorised leadership of the party.”

LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that in the suit before the court, the Turaki faction seeks a declaration of the party’s authentic leadership and an order compelling the electoral commission to recognise its interim leadership for the purpose of processing candidates for the 2027 general election.

The Turaki-led faction contends that INEC’s actions have placed it at a disadvantage in the race to meet the statutory deadline for candidate submissions. INEC has consistently maintained that it discharges its constitutional responsibilities in line with the Electoral Act, the Constitution and the orders of competent courts.

The suit is scheduled for possible determination on Friday, 17 July 2026, a week after INEC’s deadline for the submission of presidential, Senate and House of Representatives candidates.

Recall that the members of the PPDP Board of Trustees (BoT) have asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel INEC to recognise the interim National Working Committee (NWC), led by  Tanimu Turaki.

The push for official recognition of the Turaki faction and its caretaker committee has been marked by several key developments.

The BoT, led by Senator Adolphus Wabara, filed a suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026) seeking an order directing INEC to update its records and publish the Turaki-led leadership on its official website.

The presiding judge, Justice Salim Ibrahim, heard the final arguments and has officially reserved judgment in the suit.

This legal battle follows a series of conflicting rulings on rival factions within the PDP. Earlier this year, a Federal High Court in Ibadan nullified the national convention that produced the Turaki-led leadership and recognised a caretaker committee backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.

The timing of the case has heightened anxiety within the party, with many members fearing that any delay in resolving the leadership dispute could frustrate the nomination process and deny the PDP the opportunity to field candidates in key legislative elections.

If the crisis remains unresolved beyond the deadline, the party would be unable to validly nominate candidates for 109 Senate seats, 360 House of Representatives seats and, subsequently, 924 State House of Assembly seats across the 36 states of the federation.

Altogether, the elective positions at stake amount to 1,393 legislative seats, making the PDP’s internal crisis one of the biggest threats to its preparations for the 2027 general election. Meanwhile, the Turaki-led faction has dismissed reports alleging that some of its candidates were planning to institute a legal action against the faction’s interim leadership.

It described the reports as false and “the product of mischief,” insisting that none of its candidates had lodged any complaint or threatened legal action against the interim leadership.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the faction’s Interim National Working Committee (NWC) and signed by its national publicity secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, the faction urged the public, particularly media organisations and journalists, to disregard the reports and rely only on information communicated through its official channels.

According to the statement, all the party’s candidates have remained in constant communication with the interim leadership and have continued to receive regular briefings on developments within the party.

“There has not been a single complaint, let alone any threat of legal action, by any of our candidates. On the contrary, all the party’s candidates have remained in constant communication with the leadership and are regularly briefed on ongoing developments.”

The faction further alleged that those behind the reports were attempting to create confusion ahead of the INEC deadline.

“We therefore urge the public, particularly media organisations and journalists, to disregard these false reports and rely only on information communicated through the official channels of the People’s Democratic Party.

“Such rumours are being spread by ill-wishers and PDP pretenders, who are APC apologists, in a desperate attempt to mislead the public and create unnecessary confusion.”

As of the time of filing this report, there was no indication that the rival factions had reached a compromise, leaving party members anxiously awaiting Friday’s court proceedings and the looming INEC deadline.