The simmering crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) escalated sharply this week as Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, traded increasingly sharp barbs over control and direction of Nigeria’s main opposition party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Tuesday during the commissioning of the newly built PDP Secretariat at Oke-Ado, Ibadan, Governor Makinde delivered a pointed rebuke aimed at Wike and other party figures he said were responsible for undermining the PDP.
Makinde said internal party adversaries he described as “vagabonds” were no longer in control after being expelled in November 2025. He invoked a Yoruba proverb to underscore his message: “In Yorubaland, we always say that if you see a house or a compound that is peaceful, the vagabond in that house has not grown up.”
He added: “The vagabonds in PDP; they grew up in 2015. They had their time and 10 years — a decade — they practised their ‘vagabondcy’ in the PDP. But they were expelled in November 2025, so no more vagabonds in PDP.”
Makinde acknowledged that he had previously aligned with the faction but insisted he had since “repented,” saying, “Let me confess, I came into government in 2019, and towards 2023, I was yoked with them, but now I’ve repented, I’m now born again.”
He warned against moves to weaken the party for the benefit of another political formation, declaring: “But for them to hold PDP down for another party to be in power, it is a no-no.”
Expressing confidence in the judiciary to resolve ongoing legal battles surrounding the PDP’s leadership disputes, Makinde said courts would “do the needful” and that justice would ultimately prevail.
Wike Fires Back
In a swift rebuttal, Mr Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications to the FCT Minister, dismissed Makinde’s remarks as politically motivated and questioned his consistency.
“He admitted that he was a vagabond. He said he has now repented. So, he is first a vagabond who claimed to have repented; happy repentance to him from being a vagabond,” Olayinka said, casting Makinde’s turnaround as a face-saving tactic.
Invoking another traditional proverb, the minister’s aide warned that Makinde’s professed change of heart might be temporary: “Even when a madman is cured of his madness, there will still remain some traces of madness… don’t be surprised tomorrow when he returns to being the same vagabond he claimed to have repented from.”
Olayinka further suggested that Makinde was unsettled by the shifting political landscape and was seeking refuge within the party structure to avert potential political fallout.
Wike himself, at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja earlier, reiterated his intent to protect the PDP from what he described as internal “vampires” and emphasised his interest in the affairs of the party’s Oyo State chapter.
Going Forward
The exchange reflects deeper factional divides within the PDP, which has been grappling with parallel leadership claims and legal challenges since late last year. The Abdulrahman-led National Working Committee has scheduled a national convention for March 28–29, 2026, in a bid to restore unity and elect a new leadership team.
Observers say the feud between Makinde and Wike underscores broader tensions over control of the party’s machinery and strategy ahead of the 2027 elections, with each camp accusing the other of undermining party cohesion.
