When the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convened its long-awaited 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja a couple of weeks ago, casual observers might have dismissed it as just another routine gathering.
But for veterans of Nigeria’s political terrain, this was no ordinary assembly. It was a statement of survival, a fragile rebirth for a party once dismissed as politically extinct.
Unlike the previous NEC sessions that collapsed into chaos, rancour and dramatic walkouts, the 102nd NEC meeting held firm.
For a political organisation battered by post-2023 recriminations, sabotage and bitter internal feuds, the very fact that the NEC convened and ended in one piece was extraordinary.
In Nigerian politics, where the optics could be as decisive as the outcomes, that survival was itself a victory. The PDP has always lived dangerously, walking the thin line between collapse and resurgence. Its history is fraught with crises that would have killed lesser parties.
In 2006, the “Third Term” saga nearly tore it apart. In 2014, the dramatic walkout of governors at the Eagle Square convention gave birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC). After the 2019 elections, leadership feuds once again paralysed its national secretariat.
The 2023 elections represented another low. The G-5 rebellion led by Nyesom Wike openly defied the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The PDP lost not only at the federal level but also its claim to being Africa’s largest political party. Many analysts wrote its obituary.
Yet, the 102nd NEC showed that, true to form, the PDP retains a survival instinct. Each cycle of crisis has forced a reinvention. The party’s resilience lies not in the absence of fractures, but in its ability to patch them together enough to remain relevant.
The path to the 102nd NEC 2025 was strewn with landmines, explosive issues that could have sunk the party if mishandled. Three things stood out. The National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, became the lightning rod of factional anger.
A determined push to unseat him threatened a constitutional crisis, one that could have crippled the party’s organisational framework. Saraki’s committee diffused this by insisting on compromise, revalidating Anyanwu’s mandate, and avoiding a destabilising legal showdown.
Former Rivers governor and current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, loomed over the PDP like a storm cloud. His defiance in 2023 was still raw. His sympathisers within the PDP remained influential and outright confrontation risked another split.
Saraki’s strategy was containment, not confrontation, keeping Wike’s bloc engaged without letting it dominate until the amiability leading to the NEC.
Perhaps the most critical fault line was between PDP governors and the National Working Committee (NWC). Without their cooperation, no opposition party could stand.
Saraki recognised that APC’s strength in 2023 was rooted in the unity of its governors behind Bola Tinubu. He worked to rebuild consensus between PDP governors and the NWC, a task that paid off at the 102nd NEC when both camps spoke with rare unison.
The meeting did not just avoid implosion; it produced outcomes that could shape PDP’s future. Both the National Chairman and Secretary were affirmed in their positions, silencing rumours of imminent removal and ending months of uncertainty.
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