By Darlington Onedibe
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has publicly mocked the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, following its grand presentation of certificates of return to 1,490 candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.​
During a high-stakes convergence at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, the interim National Working Committee (iNWC) under Turaki unveiled a massive roll-out of candidates.
The list includes 28 governorship flagbearers, 469 National Assembly (NASS) candidates, and 993 State House of Assembly hopefuls. This declaration solidifies the faction’s political layout, which already adopted former President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole 2027 presidential candidate.​
Addressing a crowded room of party loyalists, Board of Trustees (BoT) members, and regional leaders, Turaki defended the early roll-out as a necessary strategic mobilization to rescue Nigeria from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
​”The PDP remains the only political entity with deep-rooted structures in every single ward across this nation,” Turaki asserted. “This list represents our ready-formed army to legally and democratically reclaim governance in 2027.
We are moving forward regardless of distractions.”​The presentation was met with swift, biting criticism from FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, whose loyalist faction, the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led caretaker committee remains locked in a fierce, multi-layered legal battle for the control of the party’s structures.​
Speaking to reporters at an infrastructure inspection site in Abuja, Wike laughed off the Turaki faction’s certificates presentation, calling it an exercise in futility and a “political Nollywood movie” staged by desperate actors.
​”You have people gathering in a hall, distributing certificates like graduation day at a primary school, and you call that a political party? The Supreme Court has already spoken on their illegal Ibadan convention.
Anything built on nothing cannot stand.”, the FCT Minister said.
