No more vagabonds in PDP — Makinde speaks on internal crisis

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled members he described as disruptive elements, insisting they no longer have influence over the party’s affairs.

Makinde spoke on Tuesday in Ibadan during the inauguration of a newly constructed PDP secretariat, amid lingering internal disputes and multiple court cases over the party’s leadership.

The crisis within the PDP intensified in November 2025 when a faction aligned with Makinde and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed held a national convention in Ibadan, electing new national officers with Kabiru Turaki emerging as chairman. The convention followed a series of conflicting court rulings, including injunctions from federal high courts in Abuja restraining the exercise over alleged violations of party rules and electoral laws.

A high court in Ibadan later cleared the faction to proceed with the convention and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the exercise. A rival faction opposed to the convention, led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, subsequently established parallel party structures, including a national working committee, board of trustees and national executive committee.

In December, INEC declined to recognise the Turaki-led national working committee, citing multiple subsisting court judgments. That position was reinforced on Friday when a federal high court presided over by Justice Uche Agomoh declined a request seeking to compel the electoral body to recognise the convention.

“The vagabonds in the PDP had their time. They practised their vagabondism for about 10 years, but they were expelled in November 2025. There are no more vagabonds in the PDP, and we will not allow anyone to hold this party down so that another party can remain in power,” Makinde said.

The governor said the influence of the expelled members could be traced to the period after the PDP lost power at the federal level in 2015, which he described as a time of leadership gap. He also admitted that he was previously aligned with the group but said he had since distanced himself from them.

Makinde further accused unnamed individuals of spreading falsehoods against the party, while expressing confidence that the judiciary would eventually resolve all pending legal disputes involving the PDP. He said he trusted the courts to deliver justice and bring clarity to the party’s leadership crisis.