PDP Crisis Deepens As Expelled Leaders Reject Ibadan Convention

Two expelled leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abraham Amah and George Turner, have faulted their removal from the party, describing the Ibadan convention as unlawful, defective, and held in violation of existing court orders.

Speaking with the Sunday Punch, Amah, Chairman of the PDP in Abia State, stated that the entire exercise lacked legal standing because it was conducted despite ongoing litigation.

“We have a matter in court and it has moved to the Appeal Court. So, it is against the spirit of the law and the constitution for them to go ahead to do what they had done. We are not part of what they have done,” he stated.

Amah also dismissed claims that Abia State fully participated in the event, insisting that the turnout from the state was minimal.

He said, “It is a game of democracy. We have 17 local governments; four chairmen are there while 13 are not. We have 14 members of the state working committee; only five are there. Some people went there because of the money they want to collect.”

He further criticised the dissolution of the Abia and Imo PDP executives at the convention, calling it a major procedural blunder.

“They went ahead to dissolve Abia and Imo executives, and now they are calling them to come and vote, which is a blunder. By dissolving the state, they don’t have the right to vote,” he added.

South-South PDP Leaders Dismiss Convention As Social Event

Turner, Secretary of the PDP in the South-South Zone, also rubbished the gathering, insisting it was not a legitimate party convention.

He said, “There is no PDP convention anywhere. You heard the chairman of the social gathering in Ibadan, Fintiri, where he announced that INEC was not there. So, it is not a convention of the PDP. When the PDP is ready with their convention, everybody will know. For now, it is good riddance to bad rubbish.”

Similarly, Enyinnaya Appolos, acting Publicity Secretary of the South-South PDP, described the event as “ill-fated” and held “in clear defiance of due process and judicial pronouncements.”

In a statement to Sunday Punch, Appolos said the organisers blatantly ignored two subsisting Federal High Court judgments and instead relied on “an ineffectual ex parte order which, in law and in fact, cannot override valid and extant court decisions.”

He added that the absence of INEC officials rendered the process “procedurally defective and legally unsustainable.”

According to him, the purported convention was convened despite unresolved state congresses and explicit court orders barring such a gathering.

“It is evident that every business purportedly transacted at this gathering cannot stand the test of time, nor withstand judicial scrutiny,” he said.

Appolos urged party members to remain calm as the matter progressed to the Court of Appeal