Ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party National Elective Convention scheduled for November in Ibadan, Oyo State, the camp loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has rejected the Southern Leaders’ Zoning Consultative meeting held in Lagos on Wednesday.

This is as a reliable source within the PDP National Working Committee told The PUNCH that the PDP Governors’ Forum will convene in Zamfara State on Saturday.

According to the source, the governors are expected to arrive in Gusau, the state capital, on Friday before holding deliberations the next day on pressing issues that must be resolved to ensure a smooth national convention in Ibadan.

The PUNCH had earlier reported on Thursday that Wike’s camp is resolute in its bid to prevent PDP’s November convention from taking place, citing disputes over the zonal leadership of the South-South and South-East.

Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, other governors and their allies are committed to ensuring that the convention proceeds as planned in line with the party’s constitution.

Amid these tensions, the zoning committee, led by Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, continued its consultations across all regions as promised at its inauguration on August 14 and consequently held a meeting with Southern stakeholders in Lagos.

The 44-member committee, chaired by  Diri, is expected to propose a zoning formula for the 19 National Working Committee positions between the North and the South at the 102nd National Executive Committee meeting next Monday.

At the meeting, the NEC will decide whether to adopt, reject, or amend the committee’s recommendations.

However, just hours before the Lagos Southern Zoning talks commenced, a few state chairmen, former governors, National Assembly members, and other key stakeholders aligned with Wike’s camp and publicly distanced themselves from the gathering.

The PDP leaders, in a statement jointly signed by party chairmen from Imo, Abia, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, alongside National Assembly leaders and other stakeholders, on Thursday, dismissed “any resolutions, communiqués, or outcomes” purportedly emanating from the meeting as “neither binding on, nor reflective of the collective will and aspirations of the PDP family across Southern Nigeria.”

They condemned the Lagos gathering, described as the “PDP Southern Zoning Consultative Summit,” insisting it was convened without proper consultation.

“The attention of the undersigned state chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party from the South and some critical stakeholders has been drawn to a meeting ‘Nicodemously’ summoned in Lagos today, 21st August 2025, by some persons purporting to do so on behalf of PDP members of the South tagged ‘PDP Southern Zoning Consultative Summit,’ convened by the Admin Secretary, Zoning Committee of the PDP, at the behest of the Chairman Zoning Committee (H.E. Senator Duoye Diri) at the Legend Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

The said meeting, tagged a summit, was allegedly convened in the name of the three geopolitical zones of Southern Nigeria — South-East, South-South, and South-West.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we categorically dismiss any resolutions, communiqués, or outcomes purportedly emanating from this meeting as neither binding on, nor reflective of the collective will and aspirations of the PDP family across Southern Nigeria. Decisions reached in secrecy and exclusion cannot and shall not assume the authority of consensus,” the statement partly read.

The statement noted that the meeting, allegedly summoned by the Zoning Committee’s Administrative Secretary at the behest of Chairman Diri, was “deeply disturbing” because several state chairmen, national officers, principal lawmakers, and former governors were excluded.

“It is highly regrettable and indeed deeply disturbing that such a meeting was convened without the courtesy of inviting several