It was a Monday evening of sighs and side-eyes. The kind where the walls of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters leaned in, trying to eavesdrop. Defections had rocked the party like a leaky canoe in the rainy season, and the question hung thick in the air: can this sinking ship be saved?
Enter Bukola Saraki, stage left. With the poise of a political medic and the timing of a seasoned chess master, Nigeria’s former Senate President reappeared not with slogans or spectacles, but with strategy. Tasked by PDP governors—both present and past—to lead the newly reconstituted Reconciliation Committee, Saraki assumed his role not with fanfare but with folded sleeves and whispered resolve. His mission: stem the exodus, resolve the National Secretary standoff, and—why not—calm a party teetering on the edge of irrelevance.
Insiders say the meeting was tense. Rivers’ ever-dramatic Nyesom Wike defended his loyalty, swearing he never turned coat—just didn’t clap for Atiku Abubakar. Governors grumbled. Former governors speculated. Yet in the middle sat Saraki, listening, convening, calculating. His style, not flamboyant but fluent in the language of influence, may just be the balm PDP didn’t know it needed.