Kabiru Turaki, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has appealed to US President Donald Trump and other world leaders to intervene in the party’s ongoing crisis, warning that Nigeria’s democracy is at risk.

Turaki made the call on Tuesday at the PDP secretariat in Wadata Plaza, Abuja, amid a standoff between his faction and a rival group led by Samuel Anyanwu. “I want to call on President Trump, what is at stake is not just genocide against Christians, he should come and save democracy in Nigeria. Democracy is under threat, I am calling all other developed nations, all advanced democracy, come and save Nigeria,” he said.

The tensions escalated when rival factions clashed at the secretariat. Turaki, accompanied by governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo), among others, was initially prevented from entering. Police fired teargas to disperse the crowd, but Turaki and his entourage eventually gained access.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Turaki declared that he had assumed office as the party’s national chairman. “Now, we have driven them out of the secretariat, and, as you can see, I have entered my office; I have assumed leadership as the elected chairman,” he said. He added, “We shall continue to act as the vanguards of democracy,” expressing confidence that “the PDP is back on course” despite ongoing turmoil.

Narrating the confrontation, Turaki said, “We have been tear-gassed, and I think more than 50 canisters of tear gas had been shot at us. But we remained relentless and will continue to remain relentless.”

The incident follows a controversial convention held by Turaki’s faction in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he was elected PDP chairman alongside other executive members. That convention expelled Minister of the FCT Nyesom Wike, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, Samuel Anyanwu, and others. In response, Wike’s faction dismissed the convention as a “jamboree” and expelled attendees including Makinde and former party chieftain Bode George, further intensifying the two-year-long PDP crisis. Conflicting court orders one allowing and another halting the convention have compounded the tension.