A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party on Friday said it had validly submitted former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general election despite the ongoing leadership dispute within the party.
The faction, led by former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Tanimu Turaki, also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of institutional bias and attempting to undermine its credibility.
The party, through its Interim National Working Committee, warned that any attempt by the electoral commission to publish candidates submitted by any group other than the one it described as the “authentic leadership” of the PDP would further damage public confidence in the neutrality of the electoral umpire.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, the National Publicity Secretary of the Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, said the party remained confident that the Court of Appeal would overturn a recent Federal High Court judgment which declined to compel INEC to recognise the interim leadership.
According to him, the PDP resorted to litigation after INEC allegedly refused to recognise the interim leadership constituted by the party’s Board of Trustees and a member-requisitioned National Executive Committee following the Supreme Court judgment that, according to the party, left it without a legally recognised National Working Committee.
“Our decision to seek judicial intervention was, and remains, about preserving the integrity of the Peoples Democratic Party from those who seek to reduce Nigeria’s foremost opposition party into an appendage of the ruling party,” Ememobong said.
He alleged that the campaign against the PDP was part of a broader effort to weaken opposition parties and pave the way for a one-party state.
