Faction emerges in Nigeria’s main opposition party

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria

Main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears split down the middle as a faction of the party on Wednesday opened a separate office, citing “fraudulent” conduct in the party’s national convention.

“We own this party. Those who wanted to hijack the party during the December 9 national convention were not even in PDP when it was formed in 1998,” Emmanuel Nwosu, head of the splinter group, told a news briefing in the capital Abuja.

The PDP declared Uche Secondus its new national chairman following a convention dogged by allegations of “manipulation of delegates’ list” in favor of candidates bankrolled by the party’s powerful governors.

“We won’t allow usurpers take over our party. The unity list was imposed on us on December 9 and we are resisting it now,” he added.

Nwosu said they were renaming the party as ‘Fresh PDP’ -- a seeming replay of the crisis that had led to the party's defeat in the 2015 general election.

Previously, the PDP had been in power from 1999 to 2015.

In 2013, at least seven governors and several parliamentarians had walked out of the party's convention to form a faction known as New PDP.

The New PDP later teamed up with the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), seriously weakening the then ruling party.

The PDP has nine of Nigeria’s 36 state governors following a massive electoral defeat of 2015.

Taoheed Adedoja, a chairmanship candidate, on Monday filed a petition with the court filed asking it to annul the convention, citing “unfair treatment”.