I Am Still A PDP Member, Wike Says

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike insists he is still a member of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) despite threats of expulsion from some chieftains of the party.

Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers State, fell out with the PDP hierarchy in the run-up to the 2023 presidential election. He had insisted the party maintain its internal power-sharing formula by zoning the presidential ticket to southern Nigeria. While he backed out from supporting Atiku Abubakar; from northern Nigeria – who won the PDP primary election, the former governor worked for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), leading to the emergence of President Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu later appointed him as a minister, a move that triggered debates on whether Wike is still a member of the PDP. Despite the calls for his expulsion, the FCT minister insists he is still a member of the PDP, doubling down on his support for Tinubu – the APC flagbearer for the 2023 election.

“I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” he said during a Friday media parley with journalists in Abuja. “Have you ever seen me change anything?”