Renowned political strategist and founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Prof. Udenta O. Udenta, has leveled explosive allegations against President Bola Tinubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Nigeria Police Force, claiming they are colluding to dismantle the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a candid interview on Arise News’ Morning Show on Thursday, Udenta described the ongoing leadership crisis at the PDP’s national secretariat in Wadata Plaza as externally engineered by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency. The remarks come amid heightened tensions following a violent clash between rival PDP factions on Tuesday, where security forces fired gunshots and deployed over 200 canisters of tear gas, dispersing crowds including sitting governors, former governors, and party leaders. The incident, which echoed a tragic 2003 event in Kano where PDP chieftain Chiroma Buba died from tear gas exposure, has left the party’s headquarters sealed off by police, restricting access for staff, journalists, and supporters.
At the heart of Udenta’s critique is Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), whom he portrayed not as an independent actor but as a dependent force executing the President’s directives. “Wike is not an autonomous administrative or political force. He is a dependent force as to the President,” Udenta asserted. He emphasized that under Nigerian law, the President owns the FCT and can appoint any supervisor, making Wike’s interventions—such as threats, press briefings, and alleged involvement in the secretariat standoff—extensions of Tinubu’s will.
“Wike went to Wadata Plaza on behalf of the President because the President was at Wadata Plaza, not Wike,” Udenta said. He urged Nigerians to focus accountability on the Presidency, describing Wike’s role as a deliberate institutional choice to weaponize ambiguity and infiltrate the PDP. Udenta referenced public service rules, protocols, and the Chief of Staff’s gatekeeping function, which requires all ministerial actions—including press conferences and public functions—to be vetted and often dictated by the Presidency.
This external meddling, Udenta argued, has transformed what should be routine internal disputes in a large political organization into a prolonged “show of shame.” He contrasted it with organic conflicts that could foster growth, insisting the APC views the PDP as its strongest national challenger and is actively working to diminish the party while it rebuilds.
Udenta reserved sharp criticism for INEC, accusing the electoral body of fostering chaos through deliberate vagueness on the PDP’s leadership tussle. He highlighted inconsistencies: INEC rejected Umar Iliya Damagum’s predecessor, Abdurrahman, as acting chairman during the Ekiti State primary election but later recognized Damagum. Yet, INEC has remained silent on the suspension of four National Working Committee (NWC) members by the Damagum-led faction.
“INEC has a mandate to be clear and unequivocal,” Udenta said. “Did INEC accept the suspension of four NWC members? INEC has not spoken.” He alleged the commission selectively obeys court orders, citing a judicial directive that INEC monitor the PDP’s national convention despite its reluctance. “INEC chooses which court orders to obey, following a directive that suits its preferred outcome.”
Udenta called on INEC to immediately clarify the legitimate PDP leadership, warning that its silence will determine which segment of the party is genuine. He noted that the Damagum faction had formally notified INEC of the NWC suspensions and the upcoming convention, providing 21 days’ notice, yet received no response.
The Nigeria Police drew Udenta’s ire for enabling what he termed a “factional occupation” of the PDP secretariat. He recounted how Deji Turaki, son of the newly elected PDP National Chairman Tanimu Turaki SAN, had pre-emptively complained to the FCT Police Command about a planned takeover by the rival Anyanwu faction. “The police assured him nothing of such would happen,” Udenta said. Despite this, the Anyanwu group gained access at 5:00 a.m. under police watch, leading to the violent confrontation.
“The police are complicit because if they had shut the place down from the start, Nigeria would not have witnessed that spectacle,” he charged. Udenta decried the excessive use of tear gas on high-profile PDP figures, supervised by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, as reckless and life-endangering.
Beyond the PDP crisis, Udenta dismissed narratives of an inevitable second term for President Tinubu, branding the APC a “special purpose vehicle cobbled together by those hunting for power” that secured victory in 2015 but could not manage it from 2015 to 2025. He rejected claims that all is set for the President to get reelection on a platter of gold, attributing the APC’s early politicking including rumored February 2027 polls to panic mode.
Udenta pointed to suppression tactics like cybercrime laws, media harassment, civic space shutdowns, and labor dismantling as desperate measures to hobble opposition parties. “PDP is losing a lot of governors, other parties are losing a lot of leaders, but that doesn’t matter,” he said. Citing Peter Obi’s 2023 breakthrough without a governor, a senator, or a House of Representatives member, Udenta warned of a reckoning in 2027 driven by unresolved issues like terrorism, farmer-herder conflicts (which he termed “Christian genocide”), economic poverty, and national disintegration.
“2027 will be an alliance of the people,” he predicted, urging the PDP, as the biggest opposition party, to lead a coalition with civic-minded Nigerians against the 1% predators represented by Tinubu’s team. He envisioned it as a moment to hold the APC accountable for failing to build democracy or address core national challenges.
Clarifying his non-partisan stance, Udenta recounted his history: As AD’s founding National Secretary during the volatile 1998-1999 transition post-Abacha and Abiola, he advocated restructuring over a parrotechnical transfer of power. Tinubu was an AD member and Lagos Governor in 1999, but Udenta left in 2000-2001 and has held no party card since, rejecting classical politics for a role as strategist, thinker, and public intellectual. He claimed to have done more projects for PDP-aligned elites than others.
For the PDP’s survival, Udenta advised continuing public mobilization, litigation, and engagement with institutions like INEC. On legitimacy, he affirmed the Damagum-Turaki faction as the current leadership, produced via a noticed convention, pending court resolution. “If you take INEC out of the matter, the PDP strategy to engage the public space is on point,” he said.
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