Wike’s Camp Endorses Anyanwu For PDP Secretary, Pushes For Southern Presidential Candidate

Some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are calling for the party’s 2027 presidential ticket to be zoned to the South.

After a closed-door meeting in Abuja on Monday night, the group which includes former governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Samuel Ortom (Benue) issued a statement affirming their stance.

Wike, who read the communiqué on behalf of the group, emphasized that Senator Samuel Anyanwu is still the legitimate National Secretary of the PDP.

“We therefore unequivocally affirm senator Anyanwu as the truly elected substantive national secretary of our great party,” the group declared.

They also insisted that, based on the PDP’s constitution and the principle of equity, the party should zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South.

“In the spirit of fairness and respect for our party constitution, the party must make an unequivocal announcement zoning its presidential candidate to the south in the 2027 election.”

The PDP stakeholders said only Anyanwu has the authority to issue notices for meetings such as the national convention, the national working committee (NWC), the national caucus, and the National Executive Committee (NEC).

The group dismissed any notices or communications not coming from him as invalid including those sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“All the notices not issued by him, including correspondences to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are null and void,” the group said.

Sources told TheCable that the meeting was part of a larger effort by Wike to block the PDP’s planned national convention set for August 28, where new members of the NWC were expected to be elected.

Though Wike is still with the PDP, he is widely seen as a close ally of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

His influence within the PDP is reportedly being used to quietly boost Tinubu’s 2027 re-election prospects.

KanyiDaily recalls that PDP internal conflict recently took a serious turn after Nyesom Wike announced his withdrawal from all reconciliation efforts previously agreed upon by the party.