I’m Still In PDP, Rivers Lawmakers Joined APC Without Telling Me – Wike

Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, says the Rivers State lawmakers who left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) did so without informing him beforehand.

KanyiDaily recalls that 17 Rivers Assembly lawmakers, including Speaker Martin Amaewhule, dumped the PDP for the APC on Friday.

Speaking in Abuja during an inspection of a bridge project, Wike said the legislators had the right to choose any political party they preferred.

He described their defection as unfortunate and linked their decision to the internal problems troubling the PDP.

According to him, he will continue working with the lawmakers who remain in the party.

Wike said, “It is unfortunate. I have always said that everybody has the right to make a choice. The party is fully factionalised. And the constitution requires that when a party is factionalised, they are allowed to leave the party.

“They never told me [before they quit PDP], but they have a right. You will see that it is not everybody who has left. I believe 16 or 17 of them have left out of 27. We still have a good number, about 10, and we will continue to work together.”

Wike also stressed that he is still a member of the PDP, despite being expelled by the Kabiru Turaki-led national working committee.

He urged the party to address its leadership crisis, warning that failure to do so would only weaken it further.

“I’m still in the PDP. So those who have remained, we’ll continue to work together. And I have said to the party, ‘Put your house in order. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that will lose’,” he said.

“And we still ask the party to work together to see how the remaining members will be a relevant opposition. But they chose not to.

“So, for me, those who have left are free. But those who remain in the party, we will continue to work together.”

KanyiDaily recalls that a full-blown confrontation recently broke out at the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja as rival power blocs loyal to Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammed violently clashed over control of the party’s headquarters.