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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has tacitly recognised the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and led by Abdulrahman Mohammed.
The recognition became evident following the appearance of Mohammed alongside the party’s Acting National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, at INEC’s first quarterly consultative meeting with leaders of political parties.
Attendance at the high-level engagement is restricted to national chairmen and national secretaries of political parties officially recognised by the electoral commission. As a result, their participation has been widely interpreted as confirmation that INEC is acting in line with a recent court directive on the PDP’s leadership dispute.
The development follows a ruling by the Federal High Court, which ordered INEC to recognise the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led National Caretaker Committee as the legitimate leadership of the opposition party.
The court decision stems from the prolonged leadership crisis within the PDP, which has seen multiple factions laying claim to the party’s national structure.
INEC has consistently maintained that it would be guided strictly by valid court orders in determining which faction of a political party it formally engages with on official matters. The presence of Mohammed and Anyanwu at the commission’s consultative meeting therefore signals a shift in official recognition, pending any further judicial pronouncements on the issue.
