Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim Warns Wike Faction Against Factional Convention Amid Escalating Peoples Democratic Party Leadership Crisis

PDP presidential aspirant Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim warns the Wike faction that a parallel convention and state executive meddling will destroy party unity.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 24, 2026, 11:57 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from LEADERSHIP Media Group

The Fragile Architecture of a Stalled Reconciliation

The internal stability of Nigeria’s main opposition party faces a critical inflection point as Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a prominent presidential aspirant, issued a stern directive to the faction aligned with Nyesom Wike. According to Olawepo-Hashim, the current move toward a factional convention represents a direct assault on the survival and integrity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He revealed that both warring camps had previously established a gentleman’s agreement to pursue a unified convention, a process that was reportedly on track until recent judicial interventions by the Court of Appeal. The sudden shift toward unilateral action by the Wike faction is being viewed as a breach of trust that threatens to collapse months of delicate negotiations intended to save the party from total implosion.

The Invisible Hand of Internal Sabotage

In a stinging critique of the current impasse, Olawepo-Hashim identified the presence of a "fifth columnist" operating within the party’s high command. According to his formal statement, this individual or group has actively worked to derail the reconciliation process in favor of external interests that do not align with the PDP’s electoral success. This interference has allegedly transformed a manageable leadership dispute into a systemic crisis of identity. By prioritizing these outside influences over the collective survival of the party, these actors are accused of pushing the PDP toward a point of no return, where a unified front for future general elections becomes mathematically and politically impossible.

Defending the Sovereignty of State Executives

Beyond the national leadership tussle, the crisis has begun to seep into the foundational structures of the party at the state level. Olawepo-Hashim raised an alarm over purported plans to arbitrarily dissolve or alter the executive committees in Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Kano states. According to the PDP chieftain, these state chapters remain stable and should not be used as pawns in the national power struggle. He emphasized that the tenures of these state officials are constitutionally fixed and cannot be terminated at the whim of national factional leaders. Any attempt to export the Abuja-based chaos into these regions is seen as a violation of the party’s own governing laws and a recipe for grassr...