Wike Withdraws from PDP Peace Efforts over Alleged Repudiation of Agreements
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has announced his withdrawal from all previous agreements reached to resolve the lingering crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement personally signed by him, Wike expressed his frustration with the lack of adherence to agreements by key stakeholders, particularly the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, whom he accused of being the “architect of the party’s present problems.”
Wike claimed that despite efforts to resolve the crisis, including a meeting in Lagos with the G5 governors and an expanded meeting in Abuja, the agreements reached were consistently violated.
He cited specific instances, including the refusal to recognize Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP, as mandated by the Supreme Court judgment, and the failure to withdraw legal matters relating to Rivers State.
The FCT Minister also accused Makinde of conniving with Peter Mba of Enugu State to orchestrate a meeting of South-East leaders to recommend the adoption of Ude Okoye as Secretary, which Wike described as a violation of the agreement reached.
Furthermore, he alleged that Makinde had organized some party members to insist that the Deputy National Secretary should act as National Secretary, contrary to the agreement.
Wike also expressed disappointment with the party’s National Publicity Secretary, who he claimed had signed a rebuttal letter rejecting the candidacy of the party’s governorship candidate in Anambra State, despite the fact that the National Secretary and acting National Chairman had signed a letter confirming the candidacy.
The FCT Minister cited a recent example of the party’s zonal elective congress in Jos, which was aborted due to the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to attend, as the invitation letter was signed by the Deputy National Secretary rather than the recognized National Secretary, Senator Anyanwu.
In light of these developments, Wike declared that he was pulling out of all previous agreements and vowed to “fight on until justice is attained.”
He emphasized that the party’s crisis was fundamentally caused by dishonesty and lack of trust amongst its key stakeholders and that he would no longer tolerate the consistent violation of agreements.
The withdrawal of Wike from the crisis resolution agreements is likely to exacerbate the ongoing crisis in the PDP, which has been plagued by internal conflicts and power struggles since the 2023 general elections.
The party’s ability to resolve its internal differences and present a united front in upcoming elections remains uncertain, as the crisis deepens and key stakeholders continue to disagree on the way forward.
