FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike has defended the Peoples Democratic Party’s handling of disputes over its list of eligible candidates, saying the party is relying on legal processes, not confrontation, to settle its internal disagreements. 

He spoke in a television interview, answering questions about the omission of some names from the list, among them former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.

Wike acknowledged that the party had cleaned up its membership register. He maintained that the courts would decide the status of the affected candidates.

He also rejected suggestions that the PDP had abandoned those caught up in the dispute, saying the party had already gone to court on their behalf.

In a separate media chat in Port Harcourt, he made a similar point about Ogun politician Ladi Adebutu, whose name was left off the Independent National Electoral Commission’s final list of candidates for the 2027 elections. “The party has gone to court,” Wike said.

The minister again rejected the description of his group as a faction. He argued that court decisions had settled the party’s legal standing and that the leadership recognised by INEC is the authentic PDP.

On the rival camp led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, he said it should take its grievances to the Supreme Court. He also dismissed claims by a former military governor of Lagos State, who is a PDP member, that Wike was not his political leader.

The comments come as the party remains split between two camps. The Wike-backed leadership has been recognised by INEC, and the Supreme Court in April nullified the Ibadan national convention that produced the Turaki-led leadership. The Turaki camp has accused the electoral commission of bias and says it was denied access to the nomination portal.

That is why the question of whose candidates appear on INEC’s final list has become so contentious, and why some of the party’s candidates, including Adebutu and Isa Pantami of Gombe State, were left off it. The party has said it is addressing the omissions.