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Wike warns party faces collapse over governors’ dominance
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FCT Minister slams exclusion from key PDP decisions, blames internal failures
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Wike declares PDP’s planned convention illegal, cites procedural breaches
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has warned that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is heading for collapse, blaming its governors for sidelining prominent stakeholders like himself in critical decision-making.
Speaking at a media parley in Abuja, the former Rivers State governor accused the PDP leadership of self-inflicted failure and warned that the strategy of exclusion would destroy the opposition party.
“I am the FCT minister. Are you telling me that because I am not a governor, you will hold a PDP stakeholders’ meeting and exclude me, and then expect the party to survive?” Wike queried.
He dismissed claims that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was behind the PDP’s internal crisis, insisting the party’s problems were created by its own leadership.
“All these talks about APC are rubbish. Is it APC that makes you take wrong decisions? You mean two or three people, because they are governors and receive large allocations, will go and decide, and you tell me to follow? Follow who?” he asked.
On the upcoming national convention, Wike described it as illegal, citing the failure of the party to complete required congresses before convening the event.
“If they do the right thing, will anybody stall the convention? They have not done the congresses and other things that should be in place. How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law that there is no convention?” he stated.
The minister also distanced himself from reports naming Kabiru Tanimu Turaki as a consensus candidate for the position of PDP National Chairman.
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman; maybe he becomes chairman for another faction, it’s not the PDP I know,” Wike declared.
He pointed to the resignation of Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri as chairman of the PDP zoning committee as proof of the party’s disintegration.
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“It is very embarrassing. Even though I knew from the beginning that they were all playing games. Have I not said that so many governors will leave? Nothing I said has not come to pass. From day one, I said if things are not done properly, PDP will continue to lose and we will regret it,” Wike warned.
Addressing rumours about former President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged political comeback, Wike said he had no insider information on the matter.
“Jonathan has never told me; he has never called me one day to say he’s being pressured to run. I will not because you people put something on the pages of the newspapers, then assume it is correct,” he said.
Wike further downplayed fears over Abuja’s security situation, asserting that crime in the capital had “drastically reduced.”
He dismissed media claims suggesting otherwise and vowed not to bow to pressure over the demolition of parts of Rivers Park Estate, which he described as necessary to protect the city’s master plan.
The FCT Minister also denied reports that he had been banned from making media appearances, describing such reports as “junk news.”
