The Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it cannot be intimidated by the threat of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, not to use an Abuja facility for its national convention.

The faction had fixed Saturday, May 30 for the ratification of former President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for the 2027 presidential election.

Wike in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka threatened to revoke the certificate of occupancy (C-of-O) of any non-compliant event owner or hotel.

“Owners of Event Centres and hotels in particular must ensure that they only deal with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognised leadership of political parties in respect of the use of their facilities, and proper records of transactions must be kept,” Wike said in the statement.

However, the PDP in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Interim National Working Committee (INEC) Ini Ememobong, reminded the event centre of a subsisting agreement.

“We state here, and for the record, that we had furnished consideration in full to consummate the earlier offer and acceptance.

“Furthermore, we had duly notified all relevant security agencies about the event.

“We have directed our lawyers to write, reminding … Event Centre of these facts,” Turaki said in the statement.

He added that having satisfied the requirements, “the special convention to ratify the presidential candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan will hold as scheduled on Saturday, 30th May, 2026 … by 10 a.m.”

PDP said Nigeria is governed by law, adding that any attempt to use force to suppress political dissent and opposition is an aberration which must be resisted by all people of good conscience.

“There is nowhere in our laws where the Minister of the FCT is empowered to determine events that should be held and where they should be held.

“Such limitless powers are strange to a democratic republic, but available and operational only under an emperor – a title that President Tinubu has been struggling to deny,” the faction added.

It called on PDP leaders across the states, members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and other critical stakeholders to attend the event as scheduled.