•Claims his supporters control the grassroots
•Criticises Makinde’s approach to politics
•Declares he’s decided to quit PDP, ADC not a threat to Tinubu in 2027
•You’ve exposed your anti-party activities, PDP tells Wike, vows to field presidential candidate
• You’re frustrated, party’s professionals knock FCT minister
Chuks Okocha, Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja and Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, during a long-winded media chat, yester-day, insisted that in spite of the defection of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC), he was not the APC leader in the state.
Wike, while mocking Fubara, said he took the decision late and his defection to APC did not guarantee his re-election in 2027.
The former Rivers State governor boasted that he remained the leader of politics in the state, claiming that his supporters control the local governments and ward structures across the state.
Wike, who further dismissed insinuations in some quarters that Fubara’s defection to APC automatically made him the party’s leader in the state, said the governor did not have structure that would guarantee him leadership of the party.
He said before the governor resigned from PDP, 22 local government chairmen in the state and more than half of the House of Assembly members had left PDP and joined APC.
Wike stated, “Defecting to another party does not make you the leader. When you said you are joining the party, you must have something to offer. There’s nothing like 001. There’s nothing like, ‘I have registered in the state as 001.’
“He (Fubara) decamped to APC with who? What is ‘001’? Let me tell you, there’s nothing like 001 in the state. You register in your ward and local government. So, if you are 001, it’s in your ward.
“Everybody registered in their own ward. You could be the first person to register, but that’s not your position.
“See, leadership is not because I’m a governor. Leadership is not because I’m a minister. You must have something that makes you a leader. Who is the leader of APC in Lagos State? There are exceptions to rules.”
The former Rivers governor boasted that he had made up his mind to leave PDP, and those loyal to him, even in other states of the federation, will join him in leaving the party.
Responding to Fubara’s earlier statement that anyone who wanted to support President Bola Tinubu should “not follow corner, corner”, Wike reiterated that he had been the most abused minister in the present administration because of his support for the president.
He stated, “Nigerians know that in 2023, I supported the president. I didn’t hide that.
“If I am doing corner corner, Assembly people will not go, the National Assembly members will not go. That is leadership. I support President Tinubu. With what the president is doing in Abuja, there is no way PDP will win the FCT in the next election.”
On the alleged breakdown of the peace agreement brokered by the president in Rivers, Wike claimed that it was due to the inability of Fubara to keep to his part of the deal, adding that the governor is being economical with the truth in his working relationship with the leadership of the Assembly.
Addressing claims by Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, that the FCT minister promised to weaken PDP in favour of Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general election, Wike dismissed the assertion as untrue.
He described the allegation as “blatant lie,” and stressed that no such meeting ever took place.
“That is a blatant lie. That is why you see Seyi Makinde has never called me Wike again. That was the last time he did,” the minister stated.
Wike revealed that he played a prominent role in making Makinde governor in 2019, and said Makinde became governor after he and some party leaders handed him with the PDP structure in Oyo State.
Reacting to Makinde’s claim of making $1 million when he was in law school, Wike said, “I ran for the presidential primary of the PDP. I didn’t see Seyi use N1,000 in my primaries. I did not see it even once.
“Secondly, it’s only in Nigeria that I’ve seen someone awarded a job worth $1 million, and nobody is talking about it. But he came to the man who didn’t have $1 million to help him get structure. We said no, we will not give it to you. We gave it to Teslim. He went to SDP to run as governor and failed with his $1 million.
“Then, before 2019, he came back. We said, we are ready to give you structure. I was very grounded in politics, but I had no $1 million with me. But the man who made $1 million is going around looking for people to help him build a structure. It was when we gave him that structure that Seyi became governor in 2019.”
Asked why he failed to brief PDP leadership on the supposed agreement, he replied, “What was the purpose of that meeting? Why did Makinde not come out to tell the party that this is what Wike said? There was no such meeting.”
Wike clarified that the only meeting involving Makinde and some PDP governors after the 2023 general election was a courtesy visit to Tinubu, not a political negotiation.
“Myself, former Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom; former Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu; former Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; and Seyi Makinde went to see the president after the elections. And, of course, the Chief of Staff was there,” he said.
Describing Makinde’s declarations as misleading and unfair, Wike said it was wrong to attribute statements to him that he never made, adding that Makinde is “frustrated”.
The FCT minister said, “Seyi said I told Tinubu that I will hold PDP for him. Nothing like that happened. Everyone knows my stand on Tinubu, I don’t need a meeting to tell him that. As a minister, I have a duty to ensure that members of the G-5 benefitted from the Tinubu administration in one way or the other.”
Wike also challenged Makinde to explain to the people of Oyo State how the N50 billion grant for the January 2024 explosion victims in Bodija, Ibadan, by President Bola Tinubu was appropriated.
He held the view that such hefty grant ought to have been appropriated before spending, adding that even as FCT minister, has not received such largesse as Makinde got from the president.
Wike dismissed Makinde’s accusations as mere sour grapes, stating that his former confidant is only embittered because Tinubu overlooked his preferred candidate for ministerial nomination.
He added that it was improper for the governor to lie against people on national television simply because he did not get the ministerial slot he wanted from the president.
Wike also downplayed the question of African Democratic Congress (ADC) being a potential threat to the re-election of Tinubu in 2027, saying, “Let me tell you something, it’s really unfortunate. I said it clearly. I don’t know if anybody wants to believe it or not.
“If there should be any opposition that will give fight to the APC, it should have been PDP. I don’t know where you are saying that ADC is rising. I don’t know where they are rising. Mention the state where they are rising. Mention. You see, I don’t like this newspaper politics. Every politics is local.”
He said the fact that the chances of PDP winning the presidential election was slim did not mean the party would not win in states.
At another function, Wike also declared that members of APC and PDP in Rivers State had effectively put aside partisan differences to embrace Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He made the declaration during a visit to Etche and Omuma local government areas, where he addressed youth and women leaders from the two councils.
“In Rivers State, APC and PDP have already collapsed into one family, the Renewed Hope family,” Wike said.
He explained that the collaboration across party lines was driven by shared values, mutual respect, and the desire to deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
“I don’t want to hear again, ‘I am PDP’ or ‘I am APC.’ What I want to hear is that you are working together. All of us are members of the Renewed Hope Agenda. It is one family,” he added.
Wike said his visit to Etche and Omuma councils was not for political campaign but to appreciate the people for their longstanding support.
He also urged party leaders and elected officials to honour commitments made, in the interest of peace and development, saying, “Agreement is agreement. When you agree with people, you must keep it.”
The FCT minister stressed that unity remained the key to political and economic progress at the grassroots.
PDP: Media Chat Has Exposed Wike’s Anti-party Activities, His Expulsion is Justified
The PDP leadership, yesterday, said through his media chat, Wike had justified the charges of anti-party activities against him and his expulsion from the party.
In a statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the party said, “By his end-of-year Media Chat, Minister Nyesom Wike has reiterated his support for, and in fact declared that he is the ‘Number one supporter’ of the presumptive candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 presidential election, while remaining a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, confirming the basis of his expulsion from the PDP, for anti-party activities.
“This fact, which he has unashamedly reiterated in several places, is nothing less than a locus classicus of anti-democratic adventurism.”
The PDP spokesman, however, said, “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.”
PDP stated, “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.
“All through the interview, Minister Wike showed obvious signs of fear of losing the attention of the president, his slipping grip of Rivers State, and his frustration with the unbending nature of the true leadership of the PDP at the national level.
“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.
“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.”
Ememobong said, “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 elections 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.”
PDP Professionals Say Wike’s Comments Show His Frustrations ahead of the 2027 Election
PDP Professionals said Wike’s media chat had exposed his frustration over his failure to secure the support of credible Nigerians for Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
The professionals, therefore, invited Nigerians to note the minister’s resort to hubristic invective, diversionary falsehoods, and baseless allegations against Makinde and other credible leaders.
They said the outburst stemmed from their refusal to support the Tinubu administration, which had brought untold hardship and escalated insecurity across the country over the last two years.
In a statement by its Protem National Coordinator, Obinna Nwachukwu, the group said, “From Chief Wike’s confessionary responses during the media chat—including his failed attempts to engineer a parallel leadership for the PDP—it is now clear that the travails facing the PDP are contrived to cripple the opposition.
“This is part of a sinister plot to enable President Tinubu to establish a one-party state ahead of the 2027 general election; a plot the PDP has firmly resisted.
“Through Chief Wike’s media chat, Nigerians can now clearly identify the individuals and motivations behind the subversive court actions against the PDP, the violent attacks on the new National Working Committee duly elected at the party’s National Convention, the sealing of the PDP National Secretariat, and the attempts to compromise certain INEC officials against the party.
“Our response to Minister Wike is that the PDP is too big and too deeply entrenched to be captured or derailed. His resort to personal attacks and bogus allegations against our leaders, such as Governor Makinde, will not yield the results he desires.”
PDP Professionals added, “In any case, the CP-PDP holds no sympathy for Minister Wike, who has become an expired, ‘homeless’, and pathetically isolated politician lacking a genuine base or followership.
“Having been expelled from the PDP, rejected by the All Progressives Congress (APC), and side-lined in the politics of Rivers State, Minister Wike is now clutching at straws.
“He is jittery, forlorn, and in mortal fear of imminent political oblivion—a desperation that has driven him to attack credible leaders in a futile attempt to retain his nuisance value.”
