Abuja: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issued expulsion certificates to former governors Nyesom Wike and Ayodele Fayose, National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, and several other prominent members, marking one of the party’s most dramatic purges in recent years amid deepening internal crises.
The party’s National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, disclosed this during a press conference after the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.
The other members, according to him, include the embattled National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu; the Legal Adviser, Kamarudeen Ajibade; and former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose.
They also included Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah Nnanna, George Turna, and Chief Dan Orbih, who were expelled during the party’s National convention in Lagos.
Turaki said that the original copies of the certificate had been dispatched to the owners by courier to serve as proof that they had been expelled from the PDP.
“We have taken note of the fact that Nigerian law frowns on dual membership of political parties, and so we have sought to make it easy for them.
“Now that they are no longer members of our party, and now that the National Convention, which is the highest decision-making organ of our party, has expelled them, we have decided to issue them certificates of expulsion.
“So, when they go to register with other political parties in Nigeria, they will show these certificates as proof that they are no longer members of the PDP.
“By that, those parties will not accuse them of trying to belong to more than one political party,” he said.
He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, including the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, and other government agencies, to take note.
“Very soon, members of the society will be informed via proper disclaimers that any person henceforth who decides to do business with them, any or all of them, does so at their own risk.
“They are no longer members of the PDP. They have been expelled,” he added.
He added that the NWC also reviewed some of the cases filed against the party and the lawsuits instituted by the party, particularly the one related to the “unlawful and illegal” closure of the party’s national Secretariat, the Legacy House, and the Wadata Plaza.
“The brief we received from our lawyers is that we are on sound ground, and that very soon, the law will take its course,” he said.
Turaki said the NWC was prepared to assume the responsibility of performing its functions as the leading opposition party in Nigeria.
“We are going to provide a credible alternative to Nigerians. We are going to provide credible leadership to Nigerians by the special grace of God from 2027,” he said.
