Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is “long dead,” blaming its collapse on arrogance, impunity, and disregard for internal democracy by some of its governors.
Speaking during his monthly media chat in Abuja on Friday, Wike said the current state of the PDP was the result of warnings he gave years ago but which party leaders ignored.
“The PDP has been dead for a long time,” he said. “Everything I predicted has happened. When you run a party without discipline and due process, this is the outcome.”
The former Rivers State governor, who was a key figure in the PDP before joining President Bola Tinubu’s administration, said it was disappointing that many of the same governors who once presided over the party’s internal activities are now abandoning it.
“Those who chaired conventions and zoning committees have all left,” Wike said. “I warned that if they continued the way they were going, the party would collapse — and today, that’s exactly what has happened.”
He dismissed accusations that his actions caused the PDP’s downfall after the 2022 presidential primaries, saying he was not to blame for a party that failed to heed advice. “How can you blame me for what I warned about? If you ignore caution, you suffer the consequences,” he said.
According to Wike, the PDP has lost the moral standing to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections. “No opposition party behaves this way. Instead of uniting to take power, they’re busy fighting themselves,” he said.
Reacting to social media claims that President Tinubu had directed him to suspend his media engagements, Wike described such reports as “laughable.”
“Nobody has stopped me from updating the public on what we’re doing in the FCT,” he said. “That’s part of my duty. I’m not a spokesperson for the Federal Government; I only speak about FCT affairs.”
Wike also dismissed speculation about his health, saying reports that he had been flown abroad for treatment were false. “Anyone can fall sick, but I was never ill or taken abroad,” he clarified.
On reports that former minister Tanimu Turaki had been adopted as PDP’s consensus national chairman, Wike denied any involvement and accused the party of sidelining key leaders in decision-making.
“Each time there’s a crisis, they say it’s Wike,” he said. “That’s the problem — they think being governors gives them the right to do whatever they like. You can’t ignore others and expect unity.”
Wike concluded that the PDP’s current crisis was entirely self-inflicted. “During Buhari’s time, there were efforts to weaken the PDP, but we remained united. Now, without any pressure from outside, they are destroying the party themselves,” he said.
He added that his long-standing role in building the PDP could not be erased, saying, “Even if I were not a minister today, no one can deny the role I played in shaping the PDP from its early days.”
