INEC Moves Seen as Settling PDP Leadership Dispute

Signals from recent engagements between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Peoples Democratic Party are being read within the party as confirmation that the Commission is working with the Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee as the operational leadership.

Sources familiar with internal party processes say INEC’s actions in the past week — including the physical monitoring of the Osun governorship primary and the rejection of a postponement request issued by the Senator Samuel Anyanwu group regarding the Ekiti congresses — have effectively settled the question of which leadership structure the Commission currently acknowledges.

Party insiders told this newspaper that the debates over legitimacy outside the party do not reflect the reality within its organs. One source said INEC’s acceptance of notices signed by the Turaki-led team and its deployment of five officials to monitor the Osun primary amounted to a clear statement of recognition.

The dispute intensified after the Anyanwu group notified INEC of a postponement of the Ekiti primary. The Commission declined to act on the request because the letter did not carry the signatures of the officials it recognises as chairman and secretary. According to a senior party figure, the PDP had already acknowledged INEC’s earlier response rejecting the postponement, and there is documentary proof of the exchange, even though the correspondence was not intended for public circulation.

Another official disclosed that INEC privately urged the recognised NWC to conduct the Osun primary without delay to avoid missing the statutory deadline, which would have left the party without a candidate.

Party sources also pushed back against claims that the PDP has split into factions, saying the situation bears no resemblance to the only episode the party formally considers a factional break — the walkout by five governors ahead of the 2015 elections. They noted that a faction can only emerge at a convention when a bloc physically stages a walkout and forms parallel structures, which has not occurred.

Attention now turns to a pending court judgment in Ibadan on the validity of the December 8 convention. Party figures say the ruling, expected next week, will offer legal closure, though INEC’s conduct has already provided practical clarity on where institutional recognition lies.