PDP Chairmanship: North West Leaders Reject Turaki as Consensus Candidate

Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the North West zone have rejected the reported adoption of former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), as the consensus candidate for the position of National Chairman of the party. Pointblanknews.com had reported that northern PDP leaders on Thursday endorsed Turaki as the consensus candidate of the north for the party’s top position. The endorsement was announced by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri after consultations among northern stakeholders. However, the decision has since sparked internal resistance, particularly from the North West, which insists it was neither represented nor consulted in the process. Addressing journalists after a meeting in Abuja on Friday evening, the North West leaders said the purported adoption was done without consultation and therefore does not represent the collective decision of stakeholders from the zone. The leaders who spoke through the party’s National Organising Secretaray Umaru Bature, reported that a meeting was convened at the instance of the Governor of Zamfara State to deliberate and possibly adopt a candidate for the chairmanship position zoned to the North West. However, they lamented that despite their readiness to meet, the governor postponed the meeting and later went ahead to unilaterally adopt a candidate without consulting other leaders. “We want to make it clear that this zone has not adopted anybody as a candidate from the North West for the chairmanship of the PDP. There is a lot of resentment due to lack of consultation among the leaders of this zone. “We believe we are the strongest zone in the PDP, and the attitude of our leaders in this regard made us take this position that we disagree with the governor’s action. We are going to have our own candidate that we will nominate for that position,” Bature said. They further questioned the fairness of a so-called “open contest” when a candidate had already been handpicked, describing it as an attempt to undermine internal democracy within the party. “If it’s an open contest, they should have allowed others to come out and contest. They shouldn’t have just zoned it to one person. If the chairmanship has been zoned to the North West, why should the governor adopt a candidate without consulting others?” they queried. The leaders maintained that “consensus cannot be achieved without consultation” and emphasized that the North West has not met to endorse any aspirant. They insisted that all stakeholders, including state party chairmen, members of the National Assembly, and other prominent figures from the zone were excluded from the process. “We were all at the meeting where these positions were zoned to the North West. If Governor Fintiri could adopt his own in the North East, why can’t we, the stakeholders of the North West, be allowed to sit down and adopt our own candidate?” they asked. Present at the briefing were Mustapha Lamido the son of ex-governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido, the 2023 Kaduna State gubernatorial candidate Isa Ashiru, the 2023 Katsina State gubernatorial candidate Garba Lado among othere party leaders. Meanwhile, it is believed that the disagreement reflects the widening rift between factions loyal to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and those aligned with the PDP mainstream led by the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum and backed by governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State. The National Organising Secretary, is believed to be a key ally of Wike and part of the faction accused of working to frustrate the upcoming convention. The North West leaders allege that the hasty adoption of Turaki is part of the broader plot by the Wike bloc to control the party structure and derail reconciliation efforts ahead of 2027.