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As the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prepares for its rescheduled North Central Zonal Congress in Jos, Plateau State, on Saturday, May 24, 2025, the political temperature within the zone has reached boiling point. The Hon. Stephen Abraham Ajiya Campaign Council has issued a blistering statement alleging an elaborate plot to subvert the party’s internal democratic process and hand over its North Central structure to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a strongly-worded press release jointly signed by Hon. Alfa Nma, Director General of the campaign council, and Comrade Joseph Garba, its Public Relations Officer, the group accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, of using former PDP Senator Philip Aduda to “hijack” the party’s structure in the zone for the benefit of the APC.

According to the statement, “There are credible indications of an orchestrated scheme to hijack the North Central structure of the PDP through covert political manipulation, allegedly championed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, working through a former Senator… Senator Philip Aduda.”

The council alleges that this plot involves the imposition of Senator Aduda’s preferred candidate, one Mr. Abdulraham, as the PDP North Central Zonal Chairman—an appointment they allege is designed to align the PDP’s grassroots machinery with APC interests and facilitate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.

“It is an open secret that Chief Wike, now fully aligned with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is operating under a publicly declared directive to ensure the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the campaign council said, citing recent defections of PDP leaders in the FCT and a noticeable trend of alignment with the APC’s agenda.

Describing the move as “a betrayal of the trust reposed in the PDP as the chief custodian of democratic values in Nigeria,” the statement warned that the North Central zone—historically a stronghold of the PDP and the birthplace of its first National Chairman, the late Chief Solomon Lar—risks political colonization if urgent steps are not taken.

“To hand over its structure, by proxy or coercion, to agents of the ruling party is tantamount to political heresy,” the statement added.

The Ajiya Campaign Council issued a rallying call to delegates and stakeholders, urging them to “rise in one accord and reject this attempted imposition,” insisting that their candidate, Hon. Stephen Abraham Ajiya, is “a grassroots politician with a long-standing and untainted record of loyalty to the PDP since 1999.”

They also raised concerns over the silence of senior party leaders and elders across the North Central region. “Despite numerous petitions and red flags raised by concerned stakeholders, the deafening silence… is deeply troubling and suggests either complacency or complicity,” the statement lamented.

In perhaps the most damning portion of their release, the council pointed to what it called “strategic misinformation, financial inducements, and prearranged endorsements,” referencing the controversial communiqué from the PDP FCT Executive Committee endorsing a single aspirant ahead of the congress—an act they said violates the PDP’s constitution.

Calling on the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to act swiftly, the council stated, “We call on the leadership of our great party to take urgent steps to investigate these claims, protect the sanctity of the forthcoming congress, and assure members that the PDP remains a credible platform for democratic engagement—not a bargaining chip in the ruling party’s quest for one-party dominance.”

Reaffirming their support for Ajiya, the council said: “We are not afraid of a free, fair, and credible electoral process… What we vehemently oppose is the manipulation of that process to favour a candidate who may not have the party’s best interest at heart.”

In a final call to action, the statement warned: “As we approach May 24, the delegates and leaders of our party must realize that the choices they make will either preserve the PDP’s legacy in the North Central or preside over its deliberate destruction. The future of the party—and indeed the future of Nigeria’s democracy—now rests in their hands.”

The upcoming North Central Zonal Congress is shaping up to be a litmus test for the PDP’s resolve to maintain its relevance in a region long considered its ideological and political bedrock. Whether it can withstand what the Ajiya campaign calls “an existential threat” may very well determine its fate in the 2027 electoral battle.

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