A fresh dispute has erupted within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following claims that several prominent members, including Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, were expelled at the party’s purported “elective national convention” held in Ibadan, Oyo state over the weekend.
Documents circulated from the event—described by many party stakeholders as an “end-of-year gathering of friends of a South-West governor”—listed Ohuabunwa among 11 individuals allegedly removed from the party for “anti-party activities.” However, the claim has been swiftly dismissed as baseless, unconstitutional and an affront to the party’s history.
Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, who currently serves as Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), disowned the announcement, describing it as “a joke taken too far by people who have hopped in and out of the party more times than they can count.”
In a statement on Sunday by his media office, Ohuabunwa, a respected lawmaker, who is also a former House of Representatives leader and lifelong PDP loyalist, noted that he is one of the original architects of the party.
He recalled being physically present at the meeting at the old Abuja Sheraton Hotel (now Continental Hotel) in 1998 where the PDP was conceived, alongside frontline leaders such as former Vice President Dr Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma and other political icons who laid the foundation of what became Africa’s largest political party.
“It is amusing for anyone to suggest that I, a founding father and current chairman of the conscience of our party, was expelled at a social gathering that some people are calling a convention,” he said.
“A jamboree of friends cannot become a disciplinary platform. A get-together cannot expel the very people founded and built the house they are partying in.”
He added that those alleging to have expelled him are individuals who “have gone in and out of the PDP at various times,” unlike him, who has remained “steadfast and committed since 1998.”
Ohuabunwa urged party members nationwide to remain calm, stressing that critical court decisions—including the ruling of a Federal High court in Abuja restraining the party from holding any convention—are still pending at the Court of Appeal.
“As loyal party men and women, it is incumbent on us to follow the law. We must wait for the courts and, at the same time, embrace reconciliation and unity,” he said.
“We should bring everyone on board and rebuild a bigger, stronger platform rooted in fairness, democracy and inclusion—the very ideals on which the PDP was founded.”
The senator called on PDP leaders to focus on healing internal divisions rather than escalating conflicts through illegitimate gatherings.
“What happened in Ibadan was nothing more than an end-of-year get-together,” he insisted. “It was not a convention, and certainly not a disciplinary organ of the party. We are not fighting; we are searching for peace, healing and understanding.”
His stance has been echoed by senior party stakeholders who insist that only a properly convened and appropriate party organ —not a social event—can take disciplinary action against members.
So far, at least two governors have dissociated themselves from the purported expulsions instead they have called for unity and reconciliation.