A fresh crisis has emerged in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State as two rival factions have announced different governorship candidates ahead of the 2027 election.

The faction led by Tanimu Turaki has presented Mohammed Yayari as its governorship candidate. Yayari received his Certificate of Return during a ceremony on Wednesday alongside other candidates from different states.

At the event, party leaders stressed the need for loyalty among candidates and warned against leaving the party after securing nominations.

PDP chieftain Ibrahim Turaki said, “Nobody will take our mandate to another political party and get away with it,” adding that future candidates would sign agreements before their names are submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The party’s National Organising Secretary, Theophilus Shan, said, “We are ready to go into the elections prepared with our candidates.”

Meanwhile, another PDP faction held a separate National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja, where former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, was officially presented as the party’s governorship candidate for Gombe State.

The rival group, led by Abdulrahman Mohammed, also presented Certificates of Return to candidates it said had been recognised and published by INEC.

Pantami’s emergence has deepened the leadership dispute within the PDP in Gombe, with both factions now backing different candidates for the same governorship ticket ahead of the 2027 election.

A public affairs analyst, Pascal Oluchukwu, has countered Ebonyi Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Oguzor Nwali, who said that the state governor, Francis Nwifuru, deserves re-election ahead of the 2027 general election. 

Oluchukwu explained that the governor had not done enough for the state to warrant a second term. 

He disclosed this in a statement on Thursday. 

Nwali had highlighted projects carried out by Nwifuru’s administration as a reason for Ebonyi people to vote for his second-term bid. 

However, Oluchukwu faulted Nwali and challenged him to reel out detailed projects done by the Nwifuru government. 

According to him, the flyover and tunnel built by the governor have turned into a ‘large swimming pool.’ 

He said the APC signposts are the only visible projects in the state. 

He further noted that the state under Nwifuru is filled with a litany of uncompleted and abandoned projects despite increased allocation from the federation account in the last three years. 

“From the Vanco flyover and tunnel that has since turned into a large swimming pool in this rainy season to the ICT University in Oferekpe Agbaja that has only partially completed staff quarters and then to the litany of uncompleted modern civil servant staff quarters and schools littered across the state, the story is the same: Nwifuru, who now receives more allocations, has done absolutely nothing to justify the huge billions of money he gets from the center.

“Worse still, he and his large coterie of looting appointees feel greatly entitled to a second term in office without any records of achievements in the first. As a matter of fact and concern, APC’s 4+4=8 signpost projects have become the only visible sign that there’s a government in Ebonyi State,” he stated.

The leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, deepened on Wednesday as two rival candidates for the 2027 Benue State governorship election separately received Certificates of Return from different factions of the party.

Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, received his Certificate of Return at the PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja, after emerging the governorship candidate of the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Aondoakaa was accompanied by his running mate, Dr Oyije Ochaekiti Ogbenjuwa, as well as prominent PDP leaders and stakeholders from Benue State.

Speaking after receiving the certificate, Aondoakaa thanked the leadership and members of the party for the confidence reposed in him and pledged to justify the mandate by uniting the PDP and leading it to victory in the 2027 governorship election.

However, in a parallel development, the rival faction of the party led by former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), also presented a Certificate of Return to Dr Emmanuel Agbo, Director-General of the PDP Governors’ Forum, after declaring him the winner of its governorship primary.

While the Wike-backed faction held its certificate presentation at the PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja, the venue of the ceremony organised by the Turaki-led faction could not be independently verified as of the time of filing this report.

The parallel presentation of Certificates of Return marks the latest chapter in the protracted leadership crisis that has divided the PDP into rival camps, with both factions laying claim to the party’s structure and leadership.

With both Aondoakaa and Agbo now holding Certificates of Return from their respective factions, attention has shifted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which is yet to publish the final list of candidates for the 2027 Benue State governorship election.