By Oluwaseyi Adedotun
When the Peoples Democratic Get together (PDP) convened its long-awaited 102nd Nationwide Govt Committee (NEC) assembly in Abuja a few weeks in the past, informal observers might need dismissed it as simply one other routine gathering.
However for veterans of Nigeria’s political terrain, this was no peculiar meeting. It was a press release of survival, a fragile rebirth for a celebration as soon as dismissed as politically extinct.
In contrast to the earlier NEC periods that collapsed into chaos, rancour and dramatic walkouts, the 102nd NEC assembly held agency.
For a political organisation battered by post-2023 recriminations, sabotage and bitter inner feuds, the actual fact that the NEC convened and resulted in one piece was extraordinary.
In Nigerian politics, the place the optics may very well be as decisive because the outcomes, that survival was itself a victory. The PDP has all the time lived dangerously, strolling the skinny line between collapse and resurgence. Its historical past is fraught with crises that might have killed lesser events.
In 2006, the “Third Time period” saga almost tore it aside. In 2014, the dramatic walkout of governors on the Eagle Sq. conference gave start to the All Progressives Congress (APC). After the 2019 elections, management feuds as soon as once more paralysed its nationwide secretariat.
The 2023 elections represented one other low. The G-5 rebel led by Nyesom Wike overtly defied the celebration’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The PDP misplaced not solely on the federal stage but additionally its declare to being Africa’s largest political celebration. Many analysts wrote its obituary.
But, the 102nd NEC confirmed that, true to kind, the PDP retains a survival intuition. Every cycle of disaster has pressured a reinvention. The celebration’s resilience lies not within the absence of fractures, however in its means to patch them collectively sufficient to stay related.
The trail to the 102nd NEC 2025 was strewn with landmines, explosive points that would have sunk the celebration if mishandled. Three issues stood out. The Nationwide Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, turned the lightning rod of factional anger.
A decided push to unseat him threatened a constitutional disaster, one that would have crippled the celebration’s organisational framework. Saraki’s committee subtle this by insisting on compromise, revalidating Anyanwu’s mandate, and avoiding a destabilising authorized showdown.
Former Rivers governor and present FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, loomed over the PDP like a storm cloud. His defiance in 2023 was nonetheless uncooked. His sympathisers throughout the PDP remained influential and outright confrontation risked one other break up.
Saraki’s technique was containment, not confrontation, retaining Wike’s bloc engaged with out letting it dominate till the amiability resulting in the NEC.
Maybe essentially the most important fault line was between PDP governors and the Nationwide Working Committee (NWC). With out their cooperation, no opposition celebration may stand.
Saraki recognised that APC’s power in 2023 was rooted within the unity of its governors behind Bola Tinubu. He labored to rebuild consensus between PDP governors and the NWC, a activity that paid off on the 102nd NEC when each camps spoke with uncommon unison.
The assembly didn’t simply keep away from implosion; it produced outcomes that would form PDP’s future. Each the Nationwide Chairman and Secretary have been affirmed of their positions, silencing rumours of imminent elimination and ending months of uncertainty.
The NEC resolved to proceed with its conference plans, signalling organisational readiness reasonably than paralysis. For the primary time since 2023, PDP governors spoke with one voice. This unity was described by Bauchi governor Bala Mohammed as “a brand new starting.”
The good points trickled down. Disillusioned members, lengthy weary of elite quarrels, started to see the PDP as a celebration as soon as once more able to renewal.
Nationwide Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, hailed the NEC as “an illustration of inner democracy and resilience.”
Symbolically, the PDP confirmed it may nonetheless conduct orderly conferences. Past resolutions, the NEC carried emblematicweight: it proved the PDP was not condemned to irrelevance. Survival itself turned a rallying level for members.
On the coronary heart of this turnaround was Bukola Saraki. When he was tapped within the late 2023 to chair the reconciliation and technique committee, many thought it a poisoned chalice. However his management fashion, consultative disposition, endurance and strategic considering turned the stabilising power.
Saraki didn’t impose; he mediated. He didn’t crush dissent; he absorbed it. He struck balances between ambition and survival. In doing so, he revived PDP’s custom of consensus and lodging – the very traits that after made it Africa’s largest celebration.
This “Saraki Doctrine” affords a blueprint the PDP can institutionalise: dialogue over decrees, inclusion over exclusion, and prioritising survival above particular person ambition.
But, even after the NEC, a contemporary take a look at emerged. A coalition led by Wike and different heavyweights launched six preconditions for what they termed a “professional” nationwide conference:
Conduct contemporary congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra as mandated by court docket judgments. Maintain a brand new South-East Zonal Congress instantly. Respect the end result of the South-South Congress in Calabar, already upheld by courts.
Conduct Ekiti State LGA congresses promptly, according to authorized orders. Reject “micro-zoning” past the zoning components adopted by NEC. Retain the Nationwide Chairmanship within the North-Central, in line with the 2021 zoning scheme.
Signed by Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Ayo Fayose, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the communique, learn by Ortom, warned that failure to conform would delegitimise the conference.
At first look, these calls for appeared divisive. But they mirrored one thing else: engagement. Wike’s bloc has not deserted PDP; it has staked phrases for inclusion. That posturing, whereas confrontational, was additionally an admission that PDP was nonetheless value salvaging.
What makes Wike’s calls for stronger was their authorized basis. Many hinged on court docket judgments, Ebonyi, Anambra, Ekiti, and Calabar congresses. This highlightedhow judicial pronouncements had grow to be decisive in PDP’s inner politics, generally extra binding than NEC resolutions.
The hazard is apparent: mishandling these court docket orders may invalidate a conference. However the alternative can be clear: resolving them gives a structured path to concord.
Zoning has all the time been PDP’s adhesive. From 1999, energy rotation between North and South stored the celebration broadly balanced. At present, disputes over whether or not the chairmanship ought to stay in North-central or transfer elsewhere revive outdated ghosts.
Dealt with properly, zoning might be the bridge to unity. Dealt with poorly, it might reopen fractures. The 102nd NEC managed to carry the road; the conference would be the actual take a look at.
PDP governors stay the celebration’s lifeblood, financiers, grassroots mobilisers, and energy brokers. Their renewed alignment with the NWC is probably the one strongest indicator of a rebirth. In the event that they preserve this collective accountability, the PDP stands an opportunity of repositioning. In the event that they splinter once more, the celebration dangers sliding again into irrelevance.
The NEC ought to be remembered not only for its resolutions however for its symbolism. It restored the concept PDP remains to be a nationwide celebration. Photos of leaders seated collectively, communiques issued with out rancour and governors talking in unison carried psychological weight.
For grassroots members, symbolism issues. It instructed them their celebration was not completed. For the broader voters, it recommended PDP may nonetheless be a reputable opposition.
But the highway forward is treacherous. With Wike’s bloc urgent exhausting, and unresolved grievances lurking, the PDP should recognise that reconciliation just isn’t an occasion however a continuum.
The Saraki blueprint have to be institutionalised right into a mechanism for harmonisation, a standing framework the place grievances are absorbed and resolved with out derailing the celebration.
With out such a mechanism, each congress, each conference dangers reopening outdated wounds. With it, the PDP can rework friction into gasoline for consolidation.
The NEC might not be excellent; it was a risk. It marked a shift from paralysis to movement, from bitterness to fragile consensus. It confirmed that even in its weakest second, the PDP may nonetheless maintain collectively.
However the true take a look at lies forward. If leaders confront Wike’s calls for with unity and institutionalised reconciliation, the November conference may grow to be a milestone of rebirth. If not, the landmines may nonetheless explode.
What’s plain is that the PDP is not writing its obituary. It has begun, tentatively but resolutely, its gradual march towards rebirth. And on the coronary heart of this fragile revival is Saraki’s regular hand, a doctrine of dialogue, and the popularity that survival, in politics as in life, is step one towards renewal.
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