A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected calls for the party’s candidates to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election, accusing Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, of promoting the interests of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The faction, operating under the party’s Interim National Working Committee, said the reported call by Wike for PDP candidates to collapse their political structures in support of Tinubu was directed at individuals it described as pretenders within the opposition who were working for the ruling party.
In a press statement dated October 20, 2026, and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, mnipr, the faction insisted that genuine PDP members would not support what it described as the “destructive policies” of the APC-led Federal Government.
“The true and principled members of the Peoples Democratic Party are not part of the shameless, self-serving support for the APC-led Federal Government and its destructive policies,” the statement said.
It maintained that the primary responsibility of an opposition party was to offer Nigerians an alternative to the incumbent government rather than support its re-election.
“The paramount duty of the opposition is to provide an alternative to the incumbent, not to massage their ego,” the statement added.
The PDP faction further argued that any political alliance involving opposition parties should be formed among themselves rather than with the ruling party.
It described the proposed arrangement, which it said was being promoted as a “rainbow coalition,” as a threat to electoral democracy and warned that such political collaboration could push Nigeria towards what it called an “electoral monarchy.”
The faction also urged its members to remain committed to the party while awaiting the outcome of its legal battle at the Court of Appeal, expressing hope that the judiciary would restore the party to what it described as its rightful owners.
“Our case at the Court of Appeal has been heard, and we await judgment. We know that the entire judiciary is conscious that justice delayed is justice denied,” it stated.
On the 2027 general election, the faction urged Nigerians to reject what it described as elite accommodation and state capture disguised as broad-based political collaboration.
It said the election offered an opportunity for voters to remove political actors it accused of being insensitive and irresponsible.
“The election next year provides a great opportunity to vote out these insensitive and irresponsible political actors,” the statement added.
