The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has mocked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, saying he is now afraid of losing the attention of President Bola Tinubu.
Reacting to the Minister’s media chat earlier on Monday, the PDP said Wike’s grip on Rivers State politics is slipping and is frustrated by the “unbending nature of the true leadership of the PDP at the national level.”
Posting on the party’s official X page on Monday evening, the spokesman of the Kabiru Turaki camp, Ini Ememobong, said Wike was excessively ingratiating with Tinubu during the media chat.
Ememobong said the Minister’s obsession with Tinubu’s 2027 re-election was one of the major reasons the PDP expelled him from the party last November.
“This fact, which he has unashamedly reiterated in several places, is nothing less than a locus classicus of anti-democratic adventurism.
“However, this attitude of Nyesom Wike is not new, as he has been a constant agent provocateur in the political space, creating trouble to mask his selfish intentions.
“Since he assumed power as governor in Rivers State in 2015, Wike has been a recurrent troublemaker in the leadership of the PDP.
“From the Sheriff era, where he was a forerunner in the Sheriff-for-National Chairman movement and later turned to fight and remove Sheriff; later he championed the Uche Secondus-for-National Chairman movement (in fact, he granted a very combustible interview that polarised the party just before the convention) and then was the same person fighting to remove Secondus.
“The same Wike led the movement to produce Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as National Chairman against the advice of many party leaders, and so soon thereafter, it was Wike again who led the Ayu-must-go struggle.
“Beyond the national leadership crises, his actions within Rivers State further illustrate this pattern. The imposition of candidates, internal exclusionary practices, and the unprecedented prevention of a duly nominated PDP presidential candidate from campaigning in a PDP-controlled state remain troubling departures from democratic norms,” the party said.
The troubled opposition party said Wike’s politics thrives on perpetual conflict, feeding on attention and seeking relevance through calculated disruption, and when starved of attention, seeks to destroy everything.
Continuing, the PDP said, “The cumulative effect of these actions is a deliberate creation of tension and division, often deployed as leverage to advance narrow political objectives.
“Recent public statements and alignments now make clear that Wike and his group of friends have openly chosen to work against the PDP’s collective interest in favour of an opposing political platform.
“Now that the mask of his pretence is off and he has stated that he and his group of friends (Sam Anyanwu and co.) will support the President and the APC in the Presidential elections, Nigerians are now clearly aware of their disposition to destroy the PDP as a part of their bargain to support the President-a clandestine agreement reached for their selfish reasons.”
The PDP also mocked the Minister’s protestation against alleged breach of agreement by the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, saying the governor is not obligated to keep to an illegal government.
The party said, “We remind Wike that as a lawyer, he knows that agreements made to achieve an illegal purpose are not enforceable and should not be encouraged.
“We assure Nigerians that the PDP will field a credible presidential candidate who will receive the massive support of Nigerians and will go on to win the presidential election in 2027. Our party is the Peoples Democratic Party, and no one person has the capacity to personalise the party.
“The Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee is working around the clock to rebuild the party, clear the issues in court, and prepare the party for electoral success come 2027.”