Another faction of Nigeria's ruling party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), has announced that it has split with the party leadership and has set up new headquarters in the capital, Abuja.

A spokesman for the new faction's leader said Saturday that 17 of 36 Nigerian state governors are supporting the new group.  He said the new faction does not recognize the PDP's current leader and has appointed an interim committee to run the party.

But a spokesman for the ruling party denied the split and said the faction merely represents some disgruntled members.

The infighting in the PDP follows last month's defeat of a bid to rewrite Nigeria's constitution that would have allowed President Olusegun Obasanjo to run for a third term.

The third term campaign deeply divided the president's party.

Vice President and PDP co-founder Atiku Abubakar publicly split with Mr. Obasanjo in April and founded a new party.  He said he disagreed with the efforts to change term limits.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.