A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party led by Kabiru Turaki has challenged Nyesom Wike to carry out his threat to shut down its operational office.
The development follows comments made by Wike during his monthly media briefing earlier this week, where he questioned the legitimacy of the Turaki-led faction and demanded that it operate openly if it claims to be authentic.
The FCT minister also warned that any building being used by the group could be sealed.
Wike insisted that any attempt by the group to operate as a parallel leadership would expose what he described as its lack of legal standing.
“You don’t form a leadership in your bedroom and call it a national structure. Let them open an office anywhere and call it PDP secretariat — I dare them. That is how you know what is real and what is not.
“If anybody goes ahead to open an illegal office in the name of the PDP in Abuja, I will seal it. I will not allow any breach of peace because my duty is to maintain law and order in the Federal Capital Territory.
“I will seal off any house that allows them to use it as the PDP headquarters. Any bank that allows them to open an account for the sale of nomination forms will be in trouble.”
Responding to the threat, Ibrahim Abdullahi, a former PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary and private principal secretary to Turaki, said the faction already operates from a known location.
“We have been operating from an office. He knows the location; he should come there and take over the office if he can.
“It is a temporary office, but we are meeting there and carrying out our functions,” Abdullahi said on behalf of Turaki
He cautioned that the growing internal crisis within the PDP could worsen political instability in the country if not properly managed.
According to him, the situation is gradually pushing Nigeria towards what he described as a Hobbesian state of anarchy “where life is brutish, short, and nasty”.
Also reacting, Ini Ememobong dismissed Wike’s comments as unrealistic and accused the minister of attempting to intimidate party members.
“His delusional boast of dealing with banks that will open accounts for us is delusional, as he is already aware that we are operating accounts of the party, which is why his group of friends are receiving money through private accounts,” Ememobong said.
The exchange marks another escalation in the deepening leadership crisis rocking the PDP ahead of the 2027 general elections, with rival camps battling for control of the party’s structures and operations.
