The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has accused the governors elected under the Peoples Democratic Party of running the party with arrogance and impunity.
Wike warned that the governors’ actions and disregard for due process could lead to the total collapse of the party.
The FCT minister spoke on Friday during the October edition of his monthly media chat in Abuja.
“The way these present governors are going, they will bury this party. I’m the FCT Minister, for Christ’s sake—forget about whatever you think. Are you telling me that, as it is today, because I’m not a governor, you will go and hold a PDP stakeholders’ meeting, exclude me, and then expect to survive? Assuming I’m not the FCT Minister, by the role that I have played in the PDP till now, simply because I’m not a governor, I cannot be consulted in making decisions of the party? Certainly not!
“Two or three people cannot go and sit somewhere, make a decision, and then tell me that because they are governors, I should follow such a decision,” he stated.
He described the party’s national convention slated for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo State, as illegal.
Wike insisted that he would not attend any convention that fails to comply with the party’s constitutional procedures, saying his attendance would amount to endorsing illegality.
In the lead-up to the national convention, the PDP has been engulfed in tension as rival factions clash over control of its leadership structure.
Last week, the party’s chairman in Imo State, Austin Nwachukwu; his Abia State counterpart, Abraham Nnanna; and the South-South Zonal Secretary, George Turnah, filed a suit at a Federal High Court seeking to halt preparations for the convention until a substantive case before the court is resolved.
For more than a year, the PDP has been mired in a series of internal crises, with governors elected on its platform and Wike’s loyalists locked in a fierce struggle over control of the party machinery.
Also, the party’s National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, a known Wike loyalist, last week petitioned the Department of State Services, the Inspector General of Police, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, alleging forgery of his signature on communications related to the upcoming convention.
Speaking on the internal crisis rocking the party at the media chat, Wike condemned what he described as the sidelining of key stakeholders in major party decisions, including preparations for the convention.
According to him, attempts by a few governors to dominate the party and control the outcome of the convention without due process were illegal and detrimental to the party’s unity.
He said the conduct of some governors was pushing the party toward self-destruction, stressing that the ruling All Progressives Congress was not responsible for the party’s woes.
Wike said, “You (governors) go and take a decision, and then you sideline certain people. What do you expect to have? You will have a faction. Is that not embarrassing? Why are you not following due process in holding a national convention?
“I have said it, and I will continue to say it: the moment you think that you can sideline certain people and nothing will happen, you cause a major crisis in the party.
“If you do the right thing, would anybody challenge the convention? People think they are too smart. You have not done your congresses for those who will participate in that convention. All you are interested in is, ‘Let’s go and do the convention.’ You want to deny so many states the opportunity to participate in the convention, and we say you cannot do that.”
When asked if he would attend the convention, Wike said, “If a proper convention is to be held, why won’t I go? But I won’t go to a convention I know is filled with illegalities. How do you expect me to attend a convention that I know, by law, is not a valid convention?”
Wike also faulted the decision-making process within the PDP, accusing the party’s governors of excluding other influential members and arrogating powers to themselves.
“When you make a fundamental mistake by arrogating powers to yourself, of course, you will suffer the effect.
