Some stakeholders within the troubled main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are pushing for firm measures against some chieftains of the former ruling party who have openly shown support for opposing parties, particularly the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while still members of the PDP.

Findings by Saturday Telegraph revealed that those who might have the hammer fall on them include former Rivers State Governor and current Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, as well a former governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Ayodele Fayose.

Those who spoke with our correspondent separately during the week stated that apart from the two, “we are also looking at a general house cleaning whereby those who have openly shown or display preference for other parties would be punished.”

The PDP had already scheduled the meeting of the National Executive Committee for Monday at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja to harmonise and fine-tune positions on thorny issues such as zoning of political and party offices ahead of the planned National Convention slated for November.

However, ahead of the NEC meeting, a dress rehearsal of what to expect at the meeting, which is expected to be stormy, occurred during the week when some leaders of the party in the South, led by Governor Seyi Makinde, met in Lagos to review the state of the party.

Hardly had the euphoria died that another faction of the party in Abuja, led by the Minority Leader of the PDP in the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, denounced the Lagos meeting as illegal and not representative of the wishes of members of the party in the zone.

Sources within the PDP who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity stated that it (the meeting) was actually at the instance of some stakeholders from across the six geo-political zones to rein in some recalcitrant members of the party, “drawing the wheel of progress back.”

According to one of the sources who spoke on the matter, “What we are going to do is to mount the necessary pressure on the appropriate organs of the party to look into the activities of these fellows, which are drawing the party back, preventing it from moving forward. We can no longer pretend or stand aloof.”

When asked to state pointedly who are being targeted by the sanction, the source said, “For now, I can say the Minister of the FCT who has not only shown his preference for the APC come 2027 but who has been working at cross purposes with the party in the last two years since the current government came on board. We have also singled out former Governor Ayo Fayose for sanction, considering his stance on the Ekiti Governorship election, where he has also shown his preference for the re-election bid of Governor Biodun Oyebanji ahead of the party.”

When asked if that would be possible considering the influence of the two on the levers of authority within the PDP, the source stated emphatically, “That (the move to sanction) is the growing consensus now in our party.”

While refusing to be dragged into specifics with regard to other members slated for sanction, he said, “We have compiled a long list but we will stick to the two for now.”

A tacit hint of what is billed to happen on Monday was made on Friday by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, in a televised interview when he lampooned the Wike-led faction for spurning all efforts towards reconciliation and peace.

In the interview monitored by our correspondent, George lampooned Chinda for acting the script of Wike, saying he ought to have exhausted all avenues within the party to ventilate his misgivings before organising the press conference that flayed the Lagos meeting.

“There must be discipline in any given organisation. When you break the law in any organisation and the organisation refuses to deal with such things under the law, then the organisation would break down. The activities of these elements are getting so worrisome.

“We don’t want progress terminators, we want success accelerators. If you want to be a progress terminator, please ship yourself out. The party must be strong enough to take that decision,” he said.

As at the time of writing this report, governors elected on the platform of the party are, however, meeting in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, to firm up a decision which would be presented first to the Caucus Meeting on Sunday before final ratification by the NEC.