The new National Chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kabiru Turaki, has appealed to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to help safeguard Nigeria’s democracy, which, he said is under threat from unscrupulous elements.
Mr Turaki, a former minister of special duties, made the appeal on Tuesday while addressing journalists shortly after the postponement of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The meeting, which was supposed to be the first under the new leadership, was suspended until Wednesday due to chaos at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja.
Aside from calling on President Trump, the PDP chairperson also urged other advanced democracies to intervene in safeguarding Nigeria’s democratic system.
“I want to call on President Trump…. What is at stake is not just genocide against Christians, he should come and save democracy in Nigeria. Democracy is under threat. I am calling on all other developed nations, all advanced democracies, come and save Nigeria, come and save democracy,” he said.
Mr Turaki may have made the call on the strength of the recent threat by President Trump that the US military might be ordered to invade Nigeria and “wipe out the radical Islamic terrorist” responsible for the claimed attacks on Christians if the Nigerian government fails to act.
In an earlier post made on Truth Social, Mr Trump claimed Christianity in Nigeria was facing a serious existential threat because radical Islamists are killing thousands of the country’s Christian population.
He, thus, designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” for allegedly violating religious freedom.
Convention outcomes
Mr Turaki emerged as national Chairperson at the party’s convention held in Ibadan over the weekend.
At the convention, Nyesom Wike, who is serving as FCT minister in the APC administration of President Bola Tinubu, and backing a faction of the PDP in its current crisis was expelled from the party.
Others expelled are the National Secretary of the PDP, Samuel Anyanwu, factional National Chairperson of the party, Mohammed Abdulrahman, a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, and seven others.
The faction rejected the convention and its outcomes citing court judgements earlier stopping the convention.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the likelihood of a confrontation between Mr Turaki’s leadership and the Wike-aligned faction, as both groups scheduled meetings at the same venue, the PDP national secretariat, on Tuesday.
The two sides eventually clashed while attempting to access the NEC hall. Police fired teargas to prevent some officials from entering the premises.
Amid the chaos, Mr Wike, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, and Chairperson of the PDP Governors Forum, Bala Mohammed, engaged in a heated verbal exchange. The two governors asked the FCT Commissioner of Police, Dantawaye Miller, to order Mr Wike out of the secretariat, insisting he is no longer a member of the PDP.
As the argument continued, police fired teargas both inside and outside the secretariat.
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‘FCT minister led thugs to attack officials’
Mr Turaki accused Mr Wike of storming the secretariat with armed thugs and alleged that police officers aided the disruption.
“Because I cannot understand how a standing minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be leading thugs, armed thugs and then with the connivance and the conduct of the police to come and cause mayhem here,” he said.
The PDP chairperson reiterated his commitment to defending the party’s mandate and Nigeria’s democracy, even at personal risk.
“I have said it, we are willing to lay down our lives to protect our office, to protect democracy, to protect our mandate. To Nigerians, you’re watching what is happening, international community, you’re seeing the threat that Nigeria democracy is, come and save us,” he said.