By Oluwaseyi Adedotun
When the Peoples Democratic Celebration (PDP) convened its long-awaited 102nd Nationwide Govt Committee (NEC) assembly in Abuja a few weeks in the past, informal observers may need dismissed it as simply one other routine gathering.
However for veterans of Nigeria’s political terrain, this was no strange meeting. It was an announcement of survival, a fragile rebirth for a celebration as soon as dismissed as politically extinct.
In contrast to the earlier NEC classes 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 led to 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 may 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 beginning 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 rise up led by Nyesom Wike overtly defied the social gathering’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The PDP misplaced not solely on the federal stage but in addition its declare to being Africa’s largest political social gathering. Many analysts wrote its obituary.
But, the 102nd NEC confirmed that, true to type, the PDP retains a survival intuition. Every cycle of disaster has pressured a reinvention. The social gathering’s resilience lies not within the absence of fractures, however in its skill to patch them collectively sufficient to stay related.
The trail to the 102nd NEC 2025 was strewn with landmines, explosive points that might have sunk the social gathering 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 might have crippled the social gathering’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, preserving Wike’s bloc engaged with out letting it dominate till the amiability resulting in the NEC.
Maybe probably the most important fault line was between PDP governors and the Nationwide Working Committee (NWC). With out their cooperation, no opposition social gathering 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 job 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 might form PDP’s future. Each the Nationwide Chairman and Secretary had been affirmed of their positions, silencing rumours of imminent removing and ending months of uncertainty.
The NEC resolved to proceed with its conference plans, signalling organisational readiness quite 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 pondering turned the stabilising drive.
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 when made it Africa’s largest social gathering.
This “Saraki Doctrine” gives 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 check emerged. A coalition led by Wike and different heavyweights launched six preconditions for what they termed a “legit” nationwide conference:
Conduct contemporary congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra as mandated by courtroom judgments. Maintain a brand new South-East Zonal Congress instantly. Respect the result of the South-South Congress in Calabar, already upheld by courts.
Conduct Ekiti State LGA congresses promptly, consistent with authorized orders. Reject “micro-zoning” past the zoning components adopted by NEC. Retain the Nationwide Chairmanship within the North-Central, per 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 price salvaging.
What makes Wike’s calls for stronger was their authorized basis. Many hinged on courtroom judgments, Ebonyi, Anambra, Ekiti, and Calabar congresses. This highlightedhow judicial pronouncements had turn out to be decisive in PDP’s inner politics, typically extra binding than NEC resolutions.
The hazard is clear: mishandling these courtroom orders may invalidate a conference. However the alternative can also be clear: resolving them offers a structured path to concord.
Zoning has all the time been PDP’s adhesive. From 1999, energy rotation between North and South saved the social gathering broadly balanced. As we speak, disputes over whether or not the chairmanship ought to stay in North-central or transfer elsewhere revive outdated ghosts.
Dealt with properly, zoning will be the bridge to unity. Dealt with poorly, it may reopen fractures. The 102nd NEC managed to carry the road; the conference would be the actual check.
PDP governors stay the social gathering’s lifeblood, financiers, grassroots mobilisers, and energy brokers. Their renewed alignment with the NWC is maybe the only 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 social gathering dangers sliding again into irrelevance.
The NEC must be remembered not only for its resolutions however for its symbolism. It restored the concept that PDP remains to be a nationwide social gathering. Photos of leaders seated collectively, communiques issued with out rancour and governors talking in unison carried psychological weight.
For grassroots members, symbolism issues. It advised them their social gathering was not completed. For the broader voters, it advised PDP may nonetheless be a reputable opposition.
But the street forward is treacherous. With Wike’s bloc urgent onerous, and unresolved grievances lurking, the PDP should recognise that reconciliation will not be an occasion however a continuum.
The Saraki blueprint should be institutionalised right into a mechanism for harmonisation, a standing framework the place grievances are absorbed and resolved with out derailing the social gathering.
With out such a mechanism, each congress, each conference dangers reopening outdated wounds. With it, the PDP can remodel friction into gasoline for consolidation.
The NEC will not be excellent; it was a chance. 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 check lies forward. If leaders confront Wike’s calls for with unity and institutionalised reconciliation, the November conference may turn out to be a milestone of rebirth. If not, the landmines may nonetheless explode.
What’s simple is that the PDP is not writing its obituary. It has begun, tentatively but resolutely, its sluggish 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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