A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Austin Nwachukwu, has described the Abuja convention of the party as the “only convention known to law”.
He dismissed the Ibadan exercise, which produced Taminu Turaki as the national chairman in November 2025, as a “mere jamboree” with no constitutional backing.
“What happened in Ibadan was not a convention, it was a mere jamboree; this is not a convention of the People Democratic Party.
“Yesterday was a conventional convention where the only organ that monitors political party activities, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was physically present, and the officials that came there yesterday were led by a senior advocate of Nigeria who is a top person in INEC,” Nwachukwu, who is the Chairman of the PDP Chairmen Forum, said during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.
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According to him, the Abuja convention, which was held yesterday, had the presence of INEC officials and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“So when we are talking about convention, you people should jettison this Ibadan because the court has also hammered on it that it never existed. Before they went to do it, the court said, ‘don’t do it,’ and they stubbornly went to do an ‘Amala Jamboree’. That’s what we call it, and today it is not known to the law.
“The only convention known to law is the one that happened yesterday at the national stadium, and that’s the convention of the People Democratic Party”, he added.
The PDP, backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, held its convention at the MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Sunday, with over 2,000 delegates from across the country taking part in the exercise.
The convention produced Abdulrahman Mohammed and Samuel Anyanwu as National Chairman and Secretary, respectively.
has been recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Mohammed’s faction of the opposition party is backed by Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
They were among the 21 National Work Committee members who emerged through a consensus.
Other prominent party members who attended the convention were a former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; a former Senate president, Bukola Saraki; and a former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Makarfi, among others.
