The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has warned some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors to steer clear of the structure of the party in Rivers State.
Wike, who attended Rivers PDP Congress amidst cheers from hundreds of party faithful, said any Governor meddling with the affairs of Rivers PDP would have his hands burnt.
The former Governor, whose speech was intermittently interrupted with applauses and solidarity chants by the crowd of delegates and other party members, vowed to ignite political crisis in states of governors dabbling in Rivers PDP affairs.
While issuing the stern warning, Wike assured his camp in the Rivers PDP that nobody would take away the party structures from them.
Apparently referring to the Bauchi Governor, Wike said he would not give a damn insisting that any Governor trying to hand over the structures of the PDP to Siminialayi Fubara would not sleep well in his state.
He said: “Let me assure all of you not while we live, anybody will take away the structure of PDP from us. Let me tell people, I hear that there are some governors, who said they would take away the structure and give to somebody.
“I pity those governors because I will put fire in their state. When God has given you peace, you say you don’t want peace, then whatever you see you take. I don’t understand. I don’t understand simply because I heard they got some money and their heads are getting big that you put hand in my own state.
Prepare because I have the capacity to also do the same thing in your own state. Whether you are from Bauchi I don’t give a damn. Whichever state you come from as far as I know that you are trying to put your hands in Rivers State, your hand will get burnt and you will never sleep in your state.
“You will never do governorship again, you will see political crisis as far as PDP is concerned. I have told them while you have started, when I start, don’t say I am the one that destroyed PDP. Allow Rivers State to conduct the affairs of the party”.
The FCT Minister said they had done their part by electing a governor but that they had resolved to move forward since Fubara said they were no longer part of his plans.
Wike encouraged the PDP loyalists to liken their rejection and maltreatment by the governor as a bad business insisting that not everybody business would yield the desired profit.
He said they remained the party members and that they had taken over the affairs of their party praying that God would help them repeat the 2023 victory in 2027.
He said: “I assure you, yes we have done our own part by electing a government in the state. If the government says it doesn’t want us, will you kill yourselves?
Will you run away from the party you built?
“We are the party members and we have taken over our party. The way we did it, how we did it in 2023, the same God will allow us, will support us and be with us in 2027. Let nobody be intimidated.
“I know how it is when you have worked hard and at the end of the day you are pushed away; I know how bad you will feel. But again, it is not every business you enter into that you gain profit, so see this one as one of those businesses that you invested and you lost.
“That will not make you not to continue to work hard, invest in the future and make your profit. So, be strong. They said that that we are finished, but they are finished. Anywhere you see them say that they are finished”.
Wike said they were aware that Fubara and his supporters had concluded the arrangement to join the All Peoples Party (APP) and asked them to hasten their defections and face the PDP in the next election.
The Ministers said if he wanted to defect to another party, it would be a tsunami but that he would not leave the PDP for anybody.
He said: “We are aware of these unstable characters. We know that they are joining APP. Let them wait during the time, they should face us in an election. Don’t bother about abuses. We have thick skins and we don’t even know what abuse is. So don’t say anybody is abusing.
“They thought we would come to them and start begging, are we begging. We are not begging. Let them go and see what is happening in Abuja. They know if we are talking about politics in Nigeria, we are more relevant than them. If today I say I will move to another party, it will be a tsunami. But we have said we will remain where we are”.
The PDP Congress went on at the party Secretariat along the Aba Road without the participation of the state Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara and his supporters in the party.
Curiously, in the programme of event, Fubara was captured on items nine and 17 for arrival and delivery of a speech while the arrival of his Deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu was also listed on the programme.
Speaker Martins Amaewhule and other PDP bigwigs in the state were seen spotting delegates’ identification cards at the occasion.
The absence of Fubara and his loyalists was in connection with an order of a state High Court, which stopped the exercise but the party Congress went ahead following an earlier order of the Federal High Court that supported the exercise.
