The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State deepened on Sunday as the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, held a parallel congress and elected Nosa Ogieva as its chairman.

The faction, led by the PDP National Vice Chairman (South-South), Dan Orbih, conducted its congress despite a separate exercise held a week earlier by the camp loyal to former Governor Godwin Obaseki. The Obaseki faction had on Saturday, September 27, 2025, elected Tony Aziegbemi as chairman and Henry Tenebe as secretary in Benin City.

Confusion arose when Aziegbemi and Tenebe, who had emerged as chairman and secretary in the Obaseki-led congress, were also listed as contestants for the same positions at Sunday’s parallel exercise.

A total of 576 delegates from 192 wards participated in the Orbih-led congress.

In his acceptance speech after the swearing-in of the 13-member executive, Ogieva promised to reunite the party and return it to winning ways in Edo State.

Earlier, Orbih blamed Obaseki for the lingering crisis in the party, accusing him of alienating party members and sowing “deep-rooted seeds of discord.”

“For the first time in the history of our great party, we have elected governors, senators, and House members leaving the PDP every day for one simple reason, failure of leadership,” Orbih said.

He accused Obaseki of destroying party unity upon joining the PDP, stating: “Obaseki destroyed our party. He sowed the seeds of discord in our party. He sinned against the party, the people, and the state.”

Orbih also dismissed statements from the Obaseki faction advising members to boycott Sunday’s congress, describing them as “funny characters without moral authority.”

He called on delegates to elect leaders with the capacity to rebuild the PDP, rather than “those who will sell out or deny members their rights.”

Orbih described the Obaseki-led faction as “undertakers” allegedly waiting for the PDP to collapse so they could join the African Democratic Congress (ADC).