The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has challenged the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suspend or commence a disciplinary procedure against him.
Wike said this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.
There have been calls for the PDP to suspend or expel Wike following his decision to take up a ministerial job in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu.
“Who will discipline me? I should be the one calling for the discipline of these people who violated the party’s constitution, in the way that the party supported rotation.
“Who will suspend me? I want to dare anybody,” the Minister said.
You’d recall that Wike, alongside his colleagues in the then-G5 group, had fallen out with the leadership of the PDP over controversies that trailed the party’s presidential primary election in 2022.
The Minister had vowed to oppose the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25, 2023, general election and made good of his threat by clandestinely working for the emergence of Tinubu as President.
Though Wike has always maintained that he’s a PDP member, his recent hobnobbing with the APC, coupled with his ministerial appointment, have been deemed anti-party activities.
But, the Minister told Channels Television that he informed the PDP leadership before accepting Tinubu’s ministerial offer, boasting that he had not seen the party chieftain that would suspend or expel him from the PDP.
The former governor said he remains a PDP chieftain despite working for the APC government, adding,
“I want to support Asiwaju (Tinubu) to finish well.”
“We are just waiting for the presidential panel to finish, you will know who actually are those who are working well for the party.
“How can anybody talk about expelling me? A state that brought a governor? A state that brought three senators? A state that produced 32 House of Assembly members? A state that produced 11 out of 13 House of Representatives.
“The person that would suspend me is the one that couldn’t produce a governor, is the one that couldn’t produce three senators?
“I have not seen that person, with all due respect. Nobody will do it. So, the issue of they will do it does not arise,” he added.