Wike insists on PDP’s membership, despite calls for expulsion
By Innocent Raphael
Despite threats of expulsion from some PDP chieftains, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said he remains a member of the main opposition party.
Wike, the former governor of Rivers State, clashed with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership ahead of the 2023 presidential election over the party’s internal power-sharing formula, advocating for the presidential ticket to be zoned to southern Nigeria.
Athough he withdrew his support for Atiku Abubakar, a northern candidate who won the PDP primary, Wike actively supported the APC, contributing to the victory of President Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu subsequently appointed him as a minister, sparking debates about his PDP membership status and leading to calls for his expulsion.
In the midst of that however, Wike maintains his allegiance to the PDP while reinforcing his support for Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate for the 2023 election.
“I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” he said during a Friday media parley with selected journalists in Abuja. “Have you ever seen me change anything?”
“The one I supported before, what happened? I have decided to take a break. As you see me now, everybody should carry their cross,” Wike maintained.
“I was in PDP and I did not hide it: I told them I was not going to support their presidential candidate. Is it that I spoke or acted in a way people did not understand?”
While Wike maintains his affiliation with the PDP, he has notably been absent from significant party gatherings and has refrained from participating in recent off-cycle election campaigns, expressing no remorse for his actions.
He further claimed to be an advocate of the rule of law, saying his non-support of the party in the 2023 presidential election was the right step and thus, moves for his suspension are uncalled for.
“Discipline me for what? That I did what? I am an advocate of the party’s constitution. Assuming we lost the governorship, will they be talking about Rivers as a PDP state?”
“Now is the time for governance. Now is the time to do your assignment. The president has given me an assignment and I am busy carrying out my assignment.
“When the time for politics comes, we would know who is where and who is not where,” he said.
