Ex-PDP legal adviser urges Wike to leave party

A former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mark Jacob, has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to take the honourable decision of leaving the party.

Mr Jacob called out Mr Wike on Arise News’s ‘Morning Show’ on Thursday morning.

He accused Mr Wike, who holds a key cabinet position in the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government, of fueling the PDP’s internal crisis and criticised him for lacking integrity.

“I see him as a coward who is not bold enough to leave the PDP and go to the APC. Having taken a stance against the PDP, a gentleman who wants to be respected should have resigned from the PDP. You cannot be blowing hot and cold at the same time. You cannot be kicking against the PDP and still claim you are still PDP,” Mr Jacob said.

He continued, “It is completely ungentlemanly. Anybody with a good conscience who wants to be respected even by his children should be ashamed when he does things like these because it is (a) complete irony.”

Mr Jacob said, “It is time people tell him the truth.”

“You cannot in good conscience say you are a member of the PDP and you are fighting PDP; it is not done anywhere,” he added.

Mr Jacob’s comment comes on the heels of a call by the Ijaw national leader, Edwin Clark, in an open letter to the leadership of the PDP to investigate Mr Wike over allegations of anti-party activities and expel him from the party if found guilty.

Alleged anti-party activities of Wike

Mr Wike, who was governor of the oil-rich Rivers State for eight years, has been critical of the leadership of the PDP after losing the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 presidential election to Atiku Abubakar.

He refused to support Atiku in the lead-up to the 2023 general election and chose to back the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu, who emerged as the winner.

His appointment as the Minister of FCT, a key cabinet position, is believed to be the reward for the support he gave Mr Tinubu during the election.

Since becoming minister, Mr Wike has been locked in a supremacy battle over the PDP structure in the state with Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, whom he backed to succeed him as governor.

Many have accused him of anti-party activities, given his crucial position in the APC-led government.

During a media briefing on Wednesday to mark his one year in office as minister, Mr Wike rebuffed calls to leave the PDP. He said he had no intention of leaving the party.

He also defended his decision to support President Tinubu during the 2023 election, saying it was the turn of the South to produce the president after eight years of Muhammadu Buhari as president.

Wake up to your responsibility, PDP leadership told

The PDP, which held on to the presidency for 16 years before losing the 2015 election to the APC, is facing diverse internal crises at both the state and national levels.

The Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun, has been accused of conniving with Mr Wike to ruin the party.

Mr Jacob said Thursday that the party’s leadership had lost its ability to rein in characters bent on destroying the party.

He said that the party had lost its structure.

“The party leadership must wake up to its responsibility. The party leadership must leave all this sensationalism, abandon all these selfish and individual issues and look at what the party should be doing,” Mr Jacob said.

He expressed hope that things would soon take shape within the party.

(PREMIUM TIMES)