The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the two rival factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to urgently resolve their internal crisis ahead of key off-season elections scheduled for 2026.

INEC gave the admonition on Friday during a meeting it convened in Abuja, bringing together leaders of the contending PDP blocs in an effort to address persistent disputes over the party’s leadership.

The meeting, which commenced around midday, brought face-to-face the faction led by former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki, and the group backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, headed by Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed.

Turaki attended the meeting alongside members of his National Working Committee (NWC), party secretariat staff, and former Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu. The Mohammed-led faction was represented by members of its caretaker committee, including the Secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, told both camps that the Commission had been inundated with “various conflicting correspondences” from different claimants to the PDP leadership, necessitating a joint engagement.

With the FCT Area Council elections and governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun states approaching, Amupitan said INEC was keen to avoid administering elections while the country’s main opposition party remained deeply divided.

“We are determined to ensure that we follow the provisions of the law. We want to move forward as a family,” Amupitan said.

“The FCT Area Council election is coming up on February 1, 2026, while the Ekiti governorship election will hold in June 2026, and Osun in July 2026. We are on course to ensure very smooth elections.

“However, having received conflicting correspondences from the PDP, we felt that rubbing minds together would help forge the way forward concerning these elections,” he added.

The INEC chairman stressed that the Commission would continue to act strictly within the ambit of the law. “INEC sits on the tripod of three legal regimes—the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and our Regulations. We are mindful of the need to maintain the sanctity of the Constitution, which is the grund norm,” he said.

Speaking after the meeting, Turaki said his faction was invited late Thursday night and initially assumed the engagement would focus on “housekeeping issues” previously raised with INEC.

He, however, expressed surprise that “some former members of our party who had earlier been expelled were also invited.”

According to him, INEC explained that the presence of all parties was necessary “with a view to looking for possible solutions to what the chairman described as lingering problems within the PDP.”

“We made presentations of what we think the issues are, and INEC listened to us. Even though these matters are before the Court of Appeal and have not yet been heard, INEC said it would look very seriously into what we submitted,” Turaki said.

He added that the Commission worked late into Thursday night reviewing the situation across the political landscape.

“INEC is an umpire and will always want to conduct elections that are transparent and acceptable. Where major participants are unable to participate, it casts a dark shadow on the outcome,” he noted.

On whether the meeting implied recognition of his faction, Turaki said: “When elders sit to settle a land dispute, they know who the legitimate owner is, but both sides must be heard so that no one claims they were denied fair hearing.”

He also urged INEC to probe the roots of crises within opposition parties, saying, “I wish INEC was in a position to make inquiries into the sources of these conflicts being created in some leading opposition parties.”

Turaki maintained that his faction remained committed to holding the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) accountable on governance, security, infrastructure decay, injustice, and adherence to the rule of law.

On his part, Senator Sam Anyanwu, speaking for the Wike-backed Abdulrahman Mohammed faction, insisted that the tenure of the PDP leadership expired on December 9, 2025, thereby creating a vacuum that warranted the constitution of a caretaker committee by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT).

“The life span of the leadership expired on December 9. A caretaker committee was appointed with Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed as Chairman and myself as Secretary,” Anyanwu said.

“The court nullified the convention held in Oyo State, so there was no valid convention. Nature abhors vacuum,” he added.

He commended INEC’s handling of the matter, describing the Commission’s leadership as fair and conciliatory.

“The INEC chairman is a man blessed with wisdom. The way they spoke to us showed they genuinely want us to continue to exist as the major opposition party,” he said.

Anyanwu attributed the PDP crisis to “greed, ambition and ego of some individuals,” but assured supporters that the party would emerge stronger.

“PDP is still PDP. Nigerians know that PDP has mechanisms for managing internal crises, and we will come out stronger,” he said.

He also called on aggrieved members to return to the party, insisting that the caretaker committee remained the only recognized leadership for now.

“We are going to tell our brothers to come back home. Reconciliation means coming back first, after which we will conduct a convention. Some of them may even emerge as leaders from their states, but for now, the only recognized body is the caretaker committee of the party,” Anyanwu said.