Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would collapse if he defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting that he remains firmly in the opposition party, Peak Newspaper reports.
Speaking during his end-of-the-year media chat in Port Harcourt, Wike said his political weight within the PDP cuts across several states. “Today, if I say I want to decamp to the APC, that will be the end of the PDP,” he said, adding, “You will see leaders of the party in other states who will join me.”
He listed states where mass defections would follow his exit, saying, “Watch those who will decamp in Benue, in Plateau, in Abia, in Edo.”
Wike dismissed suggestions that recent defections by his allies and Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, should influence his decision. “The mere fact that people have left the PDP for the APC does not mean I have to leave. I am still a member of PDP,” he said.
Reacting to claims that Fubara had taken over his political structure in Rivers State, Wike insisted otherwise. “I still hold my political structure in the state,” he declared.
He also downplayed the governor’s defection, saying leadership is not automatic. “There is nothing like 001 in the state; you register in your ward,” Wike said.
According to him, defection without a political base counts for little. “If a governor is moving to another party, he moves with council chairmen, party leaders and members of the House of Assembly,” he stated.
Wike concluded that Fubara’s move offers no electoral guarantee, stressing that “defecting to the APC doesn’t guarantee him an automatic ticket for a second tenure.”
