The minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had no option but to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
On July 14, Abubakar announced his resignation from the PDP, stating that the party had deviated from its founding principles and was riddled with “irreconcilable differences.”
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, on Monday, Wike said Abubakar’s exit was bound to happen because “he wanted to use the PDP, but knowing that I’m there, he cannot get that platform.”
The minister also accused Abubakar and other defectors of being responsible for weakening the opposition party.
“Those are people who destroyed the party,” Wike said, adding, “How many times has he left PDP and returned?”
‘DIRI SHOULD THANK ME FOR OPENING HIS EYES’
Wike also took a swipe at Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, who officially defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday.
“Diri has said he has left PDP, and I’m one of the happiest persons today,” he said.
“The same him and Makinde said they would not allow anybody to destroy the PDP and fall to the gutter. Who has entered the gutter today?”
He accused Diri of hypocrisy, saying the Bayelsa governor once labelled others as “undertakers” attempting to bury the PDP but has now joined the APC himself.
“If I heard what he said, he claimed that some people came into the party as undertakers,” Wike noted.
“I didn’t just come into the party; I have been a bona fide member since 1998.”
Recounting his political journey, the FCT minister said he began as a local government chairman before serving as governor of Rivers State for eight years.
“When Diri was in PDP, he was one of those who said I was working for APC to destroy PDP,” Wike said.
“He was the chairman of the zoning committee of the party.”
Wike further mocked Diri’s defection, saying, “If he were to say I am working with APC, Diri should come to me and say, ‘Thank you, master.’ He should pay me and say, ‘Thank you for opening my eyes to see the light,’ if he were true.”
Despite the crisis within the PDP, Wike insisted that his loyalty to the party has never wavered.
“When I was a governor under Buhari, everything was done to kill PDP, but I said no way—I fought,” he said.
“Leadership is key to everything you are doing. Everybody wants to make excuses. The man they claimed is killing PDP is still in the PDP.”