*I Will Lead PDP’s 2027 Campaign In Rivers
*Queries Bode George: Who Did PDP Make In Lagos?
THE Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, has insisted that he did not engage in anti-party activities during the last general elections, adding that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not have produced the governor in Rivers State and National Assembly members if he had truly worked against it, despite supporting President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking during his monthly press briefing in Abuja, on Monday, June 2, Wike recalled that he, Bode George, and other stakeholders of the party had agreed that the PDP should zone its presidential ticket to the South, but some party members refused.
He explained: “In 2023, did I not tell you that I wouldn’t support their presidential candidate? I said, based on equity, justice and fairness, the presidency should go to the South, because you can’t have that and the national chairman at the same time.
“You, therefore, take one and give us one. Believing that Atiku would win, they said to hell, and I said I was not going to support.
“So, why didn’t I leave the party and join APC? Of all of us then and PDP governors today, who produced National Assembly 100 per cent? Who produced a governor? Ask them in their various states how many senators they have.
“Bode George supported the Labour Party (LP), and I said I wouldn’t support (Obi). I’m a politician, and I said even if you support this man (Obi), he can’t win the election, so let’s forget about sentiment. George and everybody agreed to support a southern candidate, we all agreed.
“So, what offence did I commit by supporting Tinubu under APC? If I was playing anti-party, PDP wouldn’t have won the governorship, NASS seats, and Rivers was the only state that gave PDP that kind of victory.”
The minister insisted that he remained a member of the PDP and that nobody can push him out, vowing to lead the PDP campaign in Rivers State for the 2027 general elections, in his unwavering loyalty to the party, despite serving in the APC-led federal government.
Wike reiterated: “I am still in PDP; I worked hard for the party. I have not seen anybody who has the guts to tell me, ‘Wike, you are not a member of the party.’ Who is that? What is his contribution to the party that is more than me?”
“No one will take me from the party; I’m a member. In fact, I’ll lead the PDP campaign in Rivers by 2027.”
In reaction to Bode George’s recent comment about him over the sealing of the PDP national secretariat in Abuja, accusing him of betraying the party that brought him to limelight, the minister said individuals are responsible for parties’ popularity and not the other way round.
He stated: “Bode George said the PDP made me; that it gave me a national name. I disagree! The party cannot make you; you’re the one who makes the party popular to win elections. The party cannot say we are popular; it is you, individuals, who make the party popular.”
Wike argued that if party makes politicians, the PDP should have made many politicians in Lagos, noting: “Ask Bode George, who did PDP make in Lagos? If it’s that party that makes… who in Lagos did the party make?
“Since 1999, not one assembly, not one House of Representatives, not senate, not anything. And then, you’re talking to me who has laboured, campaigned and worked for the party to be the major party in the state and at national level?”
He stressed that PDP has not amounted to anything in Lagos, where George enjoys political recognition, adding: “In your own state, the party has never won anything. Every day, crying, complaining, from 1999, Tinubu did this, Tinubu did not do this, they rigged elections, everyday, even when we were in power.”
