Southwest PDP Hails Makinde’s Role in Stabilising Party After Contentious Convention

The Peoples Democratic Party in the Southwest has praised Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, for what it described as a decisive intervention that helped steer the party through its latest internal crisis and ensured the successful conduct of the national convention in Ibadan.

In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, the PDP Zonal Publicity Secretary, Chief Sanya Atofarati, said the convention’s outcome had revived public confidence in the party and strengthened its preparations for the 2027 general elections.

Atofarati commended the governors elected on the party’s platform for backing efforts to stabilise the PDP, noting that the emergence of former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Kabiru Turaki, as national chairman had set the stage for a more unified leadership.

“With the election of these eminent leaders into the National Executive Committee, the PDP can now focus without unnecessary distractions and begin galvanising support ahead of the 2027 general elections,” he said.

He credited Makinde with helping to avert what he called a “total collapse” of the party, adding that the governor’s collaboration with other senior figures ensured the convention proceeded peacefully.

“Governor Seyi Makinde has once again demonstrated exemplary leadership and must be commended for saving the party from total collapse,” he said, describing the governor as “the biblical Moses of the PDP.”

Atofarati also applauded the people and government of Oyo State for hosting a hitch-free convention, which drew attendance from several governors, including Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau.

He noted that the PDP’s earlier decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South and its national chairmanship to the North had shaped the build-up to the convention, with influential North-West blocs endorsing Turaki as a consensus candidate.

The zonal leadership expressed confidence that the new NEC would enforce discipline, strengthen internal democracy and reposition the party after months of legal disputes and factional tensions involving Makinde and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.