…Vows to fight on
By Sarah NEGEDU
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, plunged deeper into trouble over the weekend, when Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, publicly renounced all previous agreements meant to resolve the party’s festering internal crisis.
Wike, who said he made the decision following series of broken promises and dishonesty among its top leaders, insisted that the constant non-adherence to agreements reached was the bane of the party.
The minister, in a statement he personally signed on Sunday, regretted that efforts to restore trust within the party have been consistently sabotaged by persons within the PDP.
While noting that since the 2023 general election, the PDP has been “wantonly swinging from one part of a slippery precipice to another,” the minister accused some PDP governors of as “the architect of our problems” and leading a concerted campaign to undermine every pact reached.
Wike in the statement, recalled a series of high-profile meetings, including one with the G5 governors in Lagos and another expanded session held at former Senate President, Bukola Saraki’s guest house in Abuja last month, where critical resolutions were agreed upon. These included the reaffirmation of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary in line with the Supreme Court ruling, the withdrawal of all legal actions concerning Rivers State, and all parties pledged to honor the agreements.
Despite these efforts, Wike lamented that the gentlemen’s agreements were flagrantly violated even before the Saraki Reconciliation Committee commenced work.
He particularly accused Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Peter Mba of Enugu State, of orchestrating attempts to install Ude Okoye as the alternative National Secretary against agreed terms and fostering divisions, particularly through a controversial South-East leaders’ meeting threatening to pull out of the party.
“It is disheartening to note that even before the Bukola Saraki Reconciliation Committee began its work, the gentleman’s agreement we reached at Saraki’s Guest House was already being crudely violated. To my chagrin, Seyi Makinde had connived with Peter Mba of Enugu State to orchestrate the summoning of the meeting of so-called South-East leaders to recommend that if Ude Okoye was not adopted as Secretary, they would pull out of the PDP. I have since granted an interview to the effect that, that resolution of the South-East leaders can not hold.”
Wike further condemned Makinde for engineering the illegal promotion of the Deputy National Secretary to act as National Secretary, in direct violation of the agreed terms. “To attempt to give credence to this farce, a letter was written by the Deputy National Secretary, calling for a meeting of the NEC of the party. Furthermore, the letter confirming the candidacy of the Governorship candidate of the party in the forthcoming Governorship elections in Anambra State, duly signed by the National Secretary, Senator Anyanwu and the acting National Chairman, was portrayed as rejected by the party through a rebuttal letter signed by the National Publicity Secretary, acting on the orders of Seyi Makinde and Peter Mba.”
The fallout was also evident on May 24 in Jos, when a PDP zonal congress collapsed after INEC rejected the invitation letter signed by the unauthorized deputy secretary instead of Senator Anyanwu.
He said, “All these actions are in complete violation of the agreements reached and would not do the party any good whatsoever. On the 24th of May 2025, in Jos, for instance, a well publicized and properly attended zonal elective congress of the PDP was aborted because the letter inviting INEC to the congress was signed by the Deputy National Secretary of the party. INEC refused to attend because the proper signatory recognized by law, that is Senator Samuel Anyanwu was not a signatory to the invitation notice. This is undeniably distasteful, provocative and annoying, to say the least.”
Wike who said he has tirelessly worked for the survival party since 1998, said he has painstakingly put out the details so that the public would know the truth.
According to Wike, “I had thought that we could keep the trust amongst us, but since it is now obvious that they would continue to play games to the detriment of the party, as is the case in the current debacle in the North-Central zonal elections, I have now firmly decided to pull out of all agreements hitherto reached. I have decided to fight on until justice is attained.”
