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Factional dispute intensifies: Wike-backed and Turaki-led groups clash over party control and governorship ticket
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Candidate controversy: Turaki group presents Wole Oluyede; Wike faction rejects claim citing caretaker committee supremacy
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Court and party rulings cited: Turaki faction references Federal High Court backing; Wike faction relies on Court of Appeal and caretaker committee directives
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State is embroiled in a leadership and candidacy dispute ahead of the June 20 governorship election.
The Turaki-led faction claims it is the authentic state leadership and has presented Wole Oluyede as the party’s governorship candidate.
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Turaki’s State Chairman, Tunji Odeyemi, said: “I want to state clearly that the congress held recently [by the Wike group] has nothing to do with our leadership. Our mandate, freely given on October 1, 2025, remains valid, and there has been no court order dissolving it.”
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Odeyemi further referenced a Federal High Court judgment, stating that it “affirmed Oluyede as the PDP governorship candidate and directed INEC to recognise him, noting that the ruling resolved earlier disputes over the party’s candidate.”
He described the Wike-backed group’s recent congress as a “charade” and accused them of attempting to distract the party from preparing for the election.
The Wike-backed faction, led by State Chairman Lanre Omolase, countered the claim, insisting that the Appeal Court judgment recognising only the Abduraham Mohammed-led National Caretaker Committee settled the issue of factionalism within the PDP.
Omolase said: “The authentic PDP members at all levels are with the Abduraham Mohammed-led National Caretaker Committee. Immediately the Ibadan convention collapsed, it meant that nothing was left of the Turaki group.”
He added that the Wike-led committee had dissolved the Turaki faction’s State Working Committee before holding its own congress, stressing: “From the onset, the Turaki group’s Ekiti SWC was not properly constituted. What they called state congress in Ekiti at that time was a charade, where positions were merely shared among themselves. It was impunity of the highest order.”
The Wike-backed SWC also rejected Oluyede’s governorship claim, with a statement signed by Omolase and Publicity Secretary Femi Phillips declaring: “The PDP in Ekiti State has not formally received any aspirant, let alone endorsed a gubernatorial candidate. No individual is greater than the party or its constitution.
“All political ambitions must be pursued in accordance with established rules, guidelines, and due process. If such a candidacy had been formally acknowledged, the individual concerned would have been visible at official party functions, including the recent inauguration of the State Executive Committee.”