The crisis in the Sokoto State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has intensified, with rival factions announcing separate governorship candidates and maintaining parallel executive structures ahead of future elections.
The split highlights widening divisions within the party in the state, with both sides insisting on legitimacy and recognition from the national leadership.
A faction aligned with the camp of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, held a gathering in Sokoto on Saturday where it announced Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi Sokoto as its governorship candidate.
The group also inaugurated a new state executive committee, naming Alhaji Aminu Hayatu Tafida as chairman. The exercise was supervised by a representative of the party’s national headquarters, Alhaji Mustapha Borodo.
The event was attended by party stakeholders, including the PDP National Organizing Secretary, Umar Muhammad Bature, and a former member of the House of Representatives from Sokoto North/Sokoto South.
Bature said the leadership dispute would be settled in court, noting that a judgment expected on July 11, 2026, would determine the authentic leadership of the party in Sokoto State.
But a rival faction loyal to former presidential aspirant Tanimu Turaki rejected the outcome, insisting its structure remains the legitimate leadership of the party in the state.
That group had earlier endorsed Alhaji Mustapha Shehu Sokoto, a former chairman of Sokoto North Local Government and ex-chairman of the Sokoto State chapter of ALGON, as its governorship candidate.
Speaking for the faction, chairman Alhaji Bello Aliyu Goronyo dismissed the parallel congress, saying the current executive—elected in October 2024 with a tenure running to 2028—remains the only recognised leadership.
He argued that rival endorsements and appointments have no legal or party backing.
Political observers say the emergence of parallel structures and competing candidates underscores deepening internal divisions in the PDP in Sokoto State, with the courts expected to play a decisive role in the party’s direction ahead of future elections.
