DOES WIKE OWN PDP?

IFEANYI MADUAKO argues that the FCT minister is wielding too much power in the party

Chief Nyesom Wike, the current minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT) Abuja was a local government chairman for eight years (1999 – 2007). He thereafter served as chief of staff, Rivers State Government House from 2007 to 2011. He was appointed a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria from 2011 to 2015. He capped it all in 2015 when he was elected the governor of Rivers State for eight years (2015 – 2023). All these positions were achieved on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In other words, the party has done a lot of good to Wike because many who founded the party were not that favoured. Some have not even become an ordinary councilor of a ward since 1998 when the party was founded. These unlucky or unfortunate members have not jumped ship to another political party or brought down the roof of the party because they have not been favoured by the party.

Literary icon, Chinua Achebe, in his classic novel, Things Fall Apart, did write that those whose palm kernels were cracked for them by the benevolent gods should not forget to be humble. Wike is a classic example of a man whose palm kernel was cracked for him by a benevolent god but rather seems not to be humble enough.

Wike, a man politically made by the PDP was bold enough to threaten that he would work against the same party that made him what he is today because he didn't achieve his ambition of either becoming the presidential or vicepresidential candidate of the party in 2023 general elections. He did not just threaten, but he actually worked against the party.

Wike is a minister today serving in the government of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He may have been given a powerful ministry. However, whatever he is today under the platform of the APC pales into insignificance to what he gained in the PDP. The highest position APC can afford him is what he is currently occupying. The party can't make him a presidential or vice -presidential candidate in the nearest future. The party only used him to achieve its objective in the 2023 presidential election.

As a serving governor, Wike was substantially in charge of the PDP. He installed and removed national chairman of the party at will. Now that he's no longer a governor, should Wike still call the shots in the party that has about 13 serving governors? Is Wike more powerful than all the governors put together? Is he more powerful than all serving senators on the platform of the party?

Wike has openly confessed that he worked against the party in the last presidential election and that he would work against the party again in 2027 to ensure that President Tinubu is reelected. Why then is he struggling for the soul of the party at both national and state levels? Does Wike want the party that brought him fortunes and national prominence to die? Shouldn't the sitting governors use the forthcoming national executive council meeting of the party to tame Wike?