The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has issued formal expulsion certificates to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and several other members expelled at the party’s last national convention in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The certificates were issued on Tuesday, December 2, during an NWC meeting in Abuja, where Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum officially transferred national leadership to Senator Kabiru Turaki. The development was confirmed in a statement posted on the PDP’s X handle shortly after the ceremony.
The party had ratified the expulsion of Wike and others on November 16 following allegations of anti-party activities.
Speaking to journalists after the NWC meeting, Turaki said the committee undertook a review of issues concerning the expelled members. He explained the rationale behind issuing the certificates, saying, “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.”
Turaki added, “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.”
He said the documentation would serve as proof of their disengagement, adding, “So that, 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, and so those parties will not accuse them of trying to belong to more than one political party.”
According to Turaki, the certificates have already been dispatched by courier to those affected. They include Nyesom Wike, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Umaru Bature, Kamarudeen Ajibade (SAN), Abdurahman Muhammad, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah Nnanna, George Turna and Chief Dan Orbih.
He said the step was necessary to avoid ambiguity about their status and to formally notify Nigerians as well as state institutions. Turaki stated that agencies such as INEC, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps must “know that these people are no longer members of our party. They have been expelled. They remain expelled. We have now certified their expulsion, and these certificates have been sent to them.”
He added that the PDP would issue public disclaimers to emphasise the position, warning that anyone conducting political dealings with the expelled persons “does so at his or her own risk.”
Turaki said the action signaled a fresh start for the party, adding, “We hope that members of the PDP in Nigeria and the diaspora will know that the party has once again gotten rid of the cankerworms that have been afflicting and creating problems for us in our activities.” He noted that the PDP is now repositioning itself to offer Nigerians “credible leadership” ahead of the 2027 elections.
The expulsion process itself remains contentious, as it defied existing court orders that had halted the Ibadan convention pending the resolution of legal disputes over parallel state congresses.
A faction loyal to Wike, led by embattled National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu and factional Chairman Mohammed Abdulrahman, rejected the Ibadan convention as illegitimate. The group held its own NEC meeting in Abuja on November 18, where it countered by issuing its own wave of expulsions, targeting figures including Governors Seyi Makinde, Bala Mohammed and Dauda Lawal, former BOT Chairman Adolphus Wabara, and Turaki himself, citing similar allegations of anti-party activity and defiance of court directives.