A senior figure within Nigeria’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the party’s Board of Trustees to immediately intervene to resolve escalating internal disputes, warning that the ongoing leadership crisis threatens the party’s viability for the 2027 elections.
David Vaughan, a two-term National Ex-Officio of the PDP and the party’s 2023 Lagos State governorship aspirant, issued the call in Lagos on Tuesday. He stressed that unresolved factional struggles are critically weakening the party’s cohesion and electoral prospects.
Vaughan argued that political problems require political solutions, noting the party’s limited time to heal before the next election cycle. “The time we have now is for us to find a way around our current leadership problems,” he stated. He specifically tasked the Board of Trustees (BoT)—a powerful party organ—with rising above external pressures to mediate honestly. “The Board of Trustees should wake up from sleep,” Vaughan said, adding that the BoT possesses established mechanisms to settle internal issues but must now activate them.
His warning references a damaging pattern. Vaughan noted that individuals who previously collaborated against the party under the banner of the G-5—a group of rebel governors who opposed the PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate—are now engaged in fresh internal conflicts. He directly linked the party’s failure to manage its 2023 crises to its electoral defeat that year.
A key current fracture, Vaughan explained, persists between camps aligned with Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike. This polarization, he asserted, continues to alienate members and hinder unified party operations.
The PDP, as Nigeria’s main opposition party, remains a central player in the nation’s political landscape. Vaughan’s appeal underscores the acute urgency within the party to achieve reconciliation before the 2027 general election. His public demand for BoT action highlights the depth of concern among some stalwarts that without authoritative intervention, internal discord will Cement the party’s status as a fractured opposition, diminishing its capacity to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress in the next electoral contest. The situation now hinges on whether the Board of Trustees will heed the call to assume a decisive conciliatory role.
