SOME prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party have challenged the former Governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, asserting that he cannot dismantle the party.
Wike, while speaking at the PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday during the party’s state congress, warned PDP governors to stay clear of the party’s affairs in Rivers, threatening to “put fire in their states.”
He stated, “Let me assure all of you, not while we live will anybody take away the structure of the PDP from us. But let me tell people, I hear some governors who say they will take over the structure and give back to somebody.
“I pity those governors because I will put fire in their states. When God has given you peace, you say you don’t want peace – anything you see you take.”
Wike’s comments come after the PDP Governors’ Forum, through its Chairman Bala Mohammed, called for a review of the party congress results to restore incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s leadership during their convention in Taraba State on August 23.
Prelude to the Taraba meeting, governance in Rivers State had been in disarray due to a clash of interest between Wike and Governor Fubara, both PDP members.
This dispute over party control ripped the state House of Assembly into two, with two Speakers loyal to Wike and his successor Fubara.
In an interview with this newspaper on Sunday, PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary Ibrahim Abdullahi remarked that Wike’s comments posed no threat to the PDP, which he said had withstood over 25 years of more severe challenges.
“Those were his entitled personal opinions at most. They don’t constitute threats to the PDP, which has survived even worse machinations 25 years down the road. No single individual has the capacity to terminate the life of this party, PDP,” Abdullahi stated.
Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the PDP on Sunday urged Wike to face his duty as a minister and stop “threatening” those in support of Fubara.
The Director of Media and Publicity, Osun PDP, Oladele Olabamiji, said Wike’s statement was reckless and irresponsible.
He said, “Wike’s statement is rather a reckless and irresponsible one, to say the least. Governor Fubara is not an outcast. He is a PDP governor. On that premise, it is out of place for Wike to threaten PDP governors for supporting one of their own.
“At the PDP Governors Forum, they can offer help to one of them that needs it. Attacking them for doing that is out of place. We urge PDP governors to protect one of their own. Wike is not the President of Nigeria. He has a job in Abuja. He should face it and stop handing down threat.
“He can do it sometimes and get away with it. But in our case here, he can’t get away with such a reckless statement,” Olabamiji said.