PDP Writes Wike, Seeks Meeting Over Rivers State Crisis
Senator Abdul Ningi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, has expressed concern that certain key members of the party, including the Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, do not want the party to survive.
The lawmaker said this when he appeared on a live Arise News Programme monitored by SaharaReporters on Wednesday night, noting that it is against the rules and cardinal principles of the party for its members to be working against the party’s interest.
When asked how the party’s National Reconciliation Committee would resolve the crisis in the party, especially in Rivers State over the prolonged rift between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Wike, his predecessor, Ningi said they had written to the FCT minister, seeking a meeting with him.
He said, “You recall yesterday we went to Rivers to have an audience with the governor so that for the first time we are talking to him face to face.
“You look at the constitution, the BOT is the conscience of the party. The BOT has the assets and liabilities of the party. The BOT is well placed, well positioned to undertake such ventures. We had about two to three hours of sessions with the Governor and we understand where he was coming from and part of our reservations is the information flirting around that we have a sitting PDP governor who wants to leave the party. That really disturbs us.
“So we reached out to him and he confirmed to us that he would remain a bonafide member of the party. We understood his problems even before we went there. No member of the Nigerian political class would tell you that he did not understand what was going on in Rivers.
“One of the crises has to do with the current minister of FCT (Wike) and we have written a letter to him to meet him.”
Speaking further on the crisis in the party, he said, “The mindset of some key actors is that this party must not survive. This party does not warrant our sympathy.
“At a time in the immediate past, some people did not get what they wanted. They (referring to the key actors) are members of PDP, otherwise there would not have been a crisis.
“You cannot be a member of PDP and at the same time be a member of another party. You cannot be a member of the PDP and at the same time enrich and influence another party over the PDP.”
Wike, a former Rivers State governor had on several occasions dared the leadership of the PDP to suspend him.
Wike insisted that he was still a bonafide member of PDP despite working against the party during the 2023 presidential election.
He is currently a member of the Federal Executive Council as a minister in the government of rival All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former governor has been at loggerheads with the PDP leadership and its former presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar since he lost in the presidential primary election in May 2022.
