By Dan Abia & Davies Iheamnachor
PORT HARCOURT — Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has attacked Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for saying that he (Wike) promised to “hold” the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for President Bola Tinubu.
Wike, who denied the allegation, also took on his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, noting that his defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) came late without any established political structure to support his new party.
At a media interaction in Ibadan, last Tuesday, Makinde said his relationship with Wike collapsed after the former Rivers State governor made what he described as an unsolicited declaration during a meeting with President Tinubu.
“I was in a meeting with the President, Wike, the President’s Chief of Staff and two others. Wike said to the President, “I will hold the PDP for you against 2027,” Makinde had said, adding that the statement left him stunned.
But Wike who spoke, yesterday, during his end-of-year media chat in Port Harcourt, noted that the meeting had nothing to do with the PDP but was meant to show support for Tinubu’s leadership and assure him of continued support.
According to him, his support for Tinubu had never been hidden and did not require any special meeting to affirm.
“Seyi said I told Tinubu that I would hold PDP for him. Nothing like that happened. Everyone knows my position on Tinubu. I don’t need a meeting to tell him that,” Wike said.
He added that as a minister, he has a responsibility to ensure that members of the G-5 group benefitted from the Tinubu administration in one way or the other.
Wike also alleged that Makinde was displeased because Tinubu did not approve his nominee for a ministerial appointment.
He further claimed that he had not received the level of support Makinde allegedly got from Tinubu, including the reported N50 billion grant for victims of the Bodija explosion in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
However, Makinde’s Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Suleimon Olanrewaju, said only N30 billion was released, explaining that part of the funds was paid directly to victims as immediate support, while the balance was used for rebuilding and restoration.
Nonetheless, Wike maintained that the Oyo governor owed Oyo people a duty to account for how the funds were spent, adding that such expenditure should have been properly appropriated before disbursement.
Fubara has no political structure going to APC — Wike
Wike who mocked Fubara, said before the governor resigned from the PDP, about 22 chairmen of the local government areas in the state and half of the House of Assembly members had left the PDP and joined the APC and that the governor took that late decision to follow suit.
“As a governor, he has the state Assembly to move with, he has the council chairmen to move with, he has the party chairmen and members of the National Assembly to move with, but in this case, who did he move with? These people decided to move on their own.”
Wike reiterated that singing the Tinubu support slogan is not a guarantee for a re-election. “Shouting on your mandate we shall stand does not imply automatic ticket. It doesn’t mean that.”
He denied any form of fanfare on the day Fubara defected to the APC in Government House, Port Harcourt, adding “There is nothing like 001 in Rivers State. When you defect, you go to your ward and register for a new party.”
By this assertion, the minister attempted to deny that Fubara is the political leader in the state contrary to the position in the statement of the state chairman, Chief Tony Okocha on the day he issued the governor his APC membership registration number, 0001.
Wike stated that any day he decides to leave the PDP, those who are loyal to him, even in other states of the federation, will join him in leaving the PDP.
Responding to Fubara’s earlier statement that anybody who wants to support Tinubu should “not follow corner, corner,” the Minister reiterated that he has been the most abused minister in the present administration because of his support for President Tinubu.
“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 State, Wike admitted that it was due to inability of Fubara to keep to his part of that truce, adding that the governor was being economical with the truth in his working relationship with the leadership of the Assembly.
PDP fires back over claims of non-existence of party in Rivers
Meanwhile, the PDP has dismissed claims by Wike, that the party no longer exists in Rivers State.
Acting chairman of PDP in Rivers State, Nname Ewor, said the PDP fully exists in the state despite the defection of Fubara, the 16 members of the state Assembly and those of the National Assembly.
He said: “The APC in Rivers State is led by Fubara while the PDP in Rivers State is led by my humble self.
“I also listened to him when he said people should keep to agreement. I don’t know what he is referring to. To the best of my knowledge, what I know is that the people of Rivers State entered a social contract with the governor in 2023.
“They gave him mandate for a period of four years. It is for the people of Rivers State to renew that mandate in 2027. If there is any agreement between him (Wike) and the governor, it is personal.
“It has nothing to do with the people of Rivers State, who are in the position to renew or not to renew the mandate. I am sure that with the way the governor is performing, the people will renew that mandate.
“The FCT Minister as we speak does not belong to any political party. The PDP has expelled him and he is not in APC. So, he can afford to say that. But every Rivers man knows that the governor is leading the APC in Rivers State and that I am leading the PDP.”
Ewor said the wave of defections that hit PDP in the state is for personal interest and not people-oriented, stating that their defection does not significantly affect neither the party nor people of the state.
Also, acting Secretary of PDP in the state, Chief Ojima Ochima, cautioned the FCT Minister against instigating tribal or ethnic war in the state in pursuit of political supremacy.
Ochima said the FCT minister’s speech about supremacy of the Ikwerre in political hierarchy of the state was unfounded, stressing that all tribes in the state are important.
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