Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is “long dead,” blaming its internal decay on arrogance, impunity, and the lack of internal democracy among some of its governors.
Speaking during his monthly media chat in Abuja on Friday, Wike said the ongoing wave of defections from the opposition party did not come as a surprise to him, insisting that his earlier warnings about the party’s direction had been ignored.
“Tsunami has been happening. Don’t you see people leaving their parties?” Wike asked. “I have always said from Day One that with what is going on, if it continues, the PDP will lose. I said it several times that if things were not done properly, we would regret it, and that is what is happening today.”
The former Rivers State governor, who was a major power broker within the PDP before joining President Bola Tinubu’s administration, said it was “embarrassing” that governors who once oversaw the party’s internal processes were now abandoning it.
“Did I not say that so many governors would leave? The governor of Enugu was chairman of the PDP convention committee. Diri of Bayelsa was chairman of the zoning committee. Even though I knew from the beginning that they were playing games, I said it before — and there is nothing I said that has not come to pass,” he stated.
When asked if he was responsible for the collapse of the PDP following the controversial 2022 presidential primaries, Wike dismissed the suggestion, saying the party’s demise was self-inflicted.
“Which house? The house that has died since?” he retorted. “When you do the right thing, you get the right results. I told them from the beginning: follow due process. But they said, ‘we are governors.’ You see the result today. The matter even went to the Supreme Court, and yet they still couldn’t manage it. I said this would kill the party.”
According to Wike, the PDP has lost the moral foundation to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections. He argued that no serious opposition could operate with such levels of disorder and expect to gain power.
“You are supposed to put your house in order to take power from the ruling party. But instead, you are fighting yourselves. All you are interested in is that you are governors, and whatever you say must stand, whether it will help you or not,” he said.
Wike also dismissed viral reports that President Tinubu had ordered him to stop holding his monthly media chats, describing the claims as “laughable.”
“I don’t read all those junks. I am very focused. What we are doing under the Tinubu administration in the FCT, I owe it a duty to let the public know. I am not the spokesperson for the Federal Government; I only speak on FCT activities. How will the President ban me from letting the public know what we are doing? It is my responsibility,” he said.
On speculation about his health, the minister was categorical: “Anybody can fall sick. But I was never sick or flown abroad. That story is false.”
Reacting to reports that some North-West PDP stakeholders had adopted former minister Tanimu Turaki as the party’s consensus national chairman, Wike denied any involvement in the crisis, accusing some governors of fueling disunity through exclusionary politics.
“So anything that happens in the West, it is me. If it happens in the North, it is me. When you take wrong steps, you achieve nothing. The problem is that some people think being governors gives them the right to do anything. You hold crucial meetings without inviting certain leaders and expect unity? You will only end up with factions,” he said.
Wike accused PDP leaders of hypocrisy for blaming the APC for their problems, noting that the current divisions within the opposition were entirely self-inflicted.
“When Buhari was in power, the government then did everything to scatter the PDP, but we stood firm. Now, there is no such attempt, yet they are destroying the party by themselves. Who is pursuing who?” he asked.
He concluded by reminding party members of his long-standing role in the PDP’s growth and warned that such contributions could not be dismissed.
“Even if I were not a minister today, the role I played in the PDP from its formation till now must be taken into account when decisions are made,” Wike stated.
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