Former senator Dino Melaye has accused three ex-officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of selling the opposition party to President Bola Tinubu, before Nyesom Wike moved in to finish off what remained of it.
Melaye, who represented Kogi South in the eighth National Assembly, levelled the allegations during an appearance on the Kaa Truths podcast. He identified the three figures as Umar Damagum, the former acting national chairman of the PDP; Samuel Anyawu, the party's former national secretary; and Umar Bature, who served as the former organising secretary of the party.
According to Melaye, the trio worked to hand over the PDP to Tinubu, after which Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and a powerful figure within the party's recent internal conflicts, came to complete its collapse.
PDP's internal crisis
The PDP has faced prolonged internal turmoil in recent years, with loyalists blaming a faction of party leaders for allegedly working against the party's interests from within. Wike, a former Rivers State governor, has been a central and controversial figure in those tensions, having publicly clashed with the party's presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, after the 2023 general elections.
Melaye's latest claims add another layer to the ongoing dispute over who bears responsibility for the PDP's struggles as an opposition force. By naming Damagum, Anyawu and Bature specifically, he pointed to the period before Wike's more visible role as the starting point of the party's alleged compromise. The former senator did not provide documentary evidence to support his claims during the interview.
Analyst speaks on PDP, ADC alliance Legit.ng earlier reported that the Governor Seyi Makinde-led faction of the PDP was described as the major beneficiary of its alliance with the coalition-adopted African Democratic Congress (ADC), considering the fact that it was likely to be kicked out by the Supreme Court.
Omotayo Yusuf, a political commentator, asserted while speaking in an interview with Legit.ng, adding that the alliance between the two opposition parties was not in the interest of Nigerians but to benefit each other.
See the video of the interview on X below:
Pdp till we meet again pic.twitter.com/pS3NKfRb01
— Senator Dino Melaye. (SDM) (@_dinomelaye) August 14, 2026
