The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party worsened on Monday as the Osun State chapter announced the cancellation of its scheduled December 2 governorship primary, while one of its prominent governors, Agbu Kefas of Taraba State, met President Bola Tinubu after aligning with the All Progressives Congress.
Announcing the abortion of the primary in Osogbo, the Osun PDP chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, said the party could no longer proceed with the exercise due to the turmoil at the national level, which has also raised doubts about Governor Ademola Adeleke’s interest in seeking re-election on the PDP platform.
Bisi confirmed that Adeleke fulfilled all party requirements for nomination, noting that he bought and submitted his forms between October 13 and 25, 2025, appeared before the Screening Committee on October 30, and was cleared.
He, however, said the party’s internal disarray—marked by suspensions and counter-suspensions of national officers—had crippled key pre-primary processes.
He said, “Soon after these pre-primary processes were concluded, the internal imbroglio rocking the national leadership of our party escalated. The suspension and counter-suspension of key national officers… created a level of uncertainty that directly impacted the planned schedule.”
Bisi added that the ward and local government congresses slated for November 24 and 29, where delegates for the primaries were to be elected, could not hold due to litigations and the leadership crisis.
“In the light of the foregoing, it has become inevitable, indeed unavoidable, that the PDP governorship primaries earlier slated for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025, can no longer hold as scheduled,” he said.
The chairman further disclosed that Adeleke might withdraw from seeking the PDP ticket altogether unless the crisis is resolved and recognised by INEC within the stipulated timeline.
He said, “The information at my disposal is that Governor Ademola Adeleke may no longer be interested in seeking the nomination of the PDP for the 2026 Osun Gubernatorial Election, except a resolution recognised by INEC is reached within the INEC timeline.”
INEC’s timetable requires political parties to submit names of their candidates by December 15 ahead of the August 8, 2026 Osun governorship election.
The PUNCH reports that the PDP crisis has split the party into blocs loyal to Governors Seyi Makinde and Nyesom Wike.
In a parallel development that underscores the widening cracks within the PDP, Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, on Monday visited President Tinubu at Aso Rock in company with APC National Chairman, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda.
Kefas, who arrived at the State House, around 02:00 p.m, proceeded into a closed-door session with the President.
Monday’s engagement is Kefas’s first visit to Aso Rock since he defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress.
Kefas had been slated for an APC welcome on November 19, but suspended the ceremony, saying it would be “insensitive” to hold a political event as Kebbi reeled from the abduction of schoolgirls in Maga.
Meanwhile, PDP National Chairman, Senator Tanimu Turaki, insisted that the party under his leadership would uphold transparency and internal democracy.
Speaking at a banquet in honour of former Minister of Information and Culture, Prof Jerry Gana, Turaki said only aspirants with integrity would make the ballot.
He declared, “The new PDP is going to allow the people to decide what they want… The new PDP will ensure that there is transparency, there is fairness, there is equity, and there is justice in whatever process we do.”
Responding to former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu’s comments that Nigeria missed the chance to have Gana as president, Turaki said, “I want to respond by saying that the new PDP is going to make that possible.”
He praised Gana as “a man of credibility… an icon, an enigma; an institution,” adding that his integrity remained untainted through decades of public service—a trait he said “is only found in the PDP.”
The biography “Jerry Gana: Stewardship in Integrity” by Mark Simon, with a foreword by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was unveiled at the event.
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