Some members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s National
Executive Committee have confirmed the claim by the Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that he notified the party’s leadership before
accepting to serve in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party,
Ibrahim Abdullahi, and a source who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed
the claim to our correspondent.
Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, said upon
assumption of office as a minister a few weeks ago that he sought the approval
of key leaders of the PDP before accepting the offer from an All Progressives
Congress-led government.
Responding to accusations that his decision to work for the APC government was a betrayal of his loyalty to his party, the PDP, Wike stated, “They said they will sanction me that I took an appointment. That’s ridiculous. The President wrote to all the 36 state governors to bring names of people to appoint. Didn’t PDP governors submit names?
“Before this appointment came, I wrote to the (PDP) National
Chairman. I wrote to the minority leaders of the House of Representatives and
the Senate. I wrote to the zonal chairman of the party and my state chairman.
“I wrote to my governor and all of them wrote me back and
said ‘accept.’ I have my evidence documented. Forget these reggae dancers. I
call them reggae dancers because when you have lost your opportunity, you have
lost because of arrogance and impunity.”
Meanwhile, the PDP NEC members confirmed that Wike in a
letter addressed to the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum,
informed the party of a ministerial offer for him to serve in Tinubu’s cabinet.
Abdullahi told our correspondent in an interview on Friday
that Wike sent a letter to PDP acting chairman before accepting Tinubu’s offer.
He noted that Wike in the letter informed Damagum that he was going to “answer
President Tinubu’s clarion call” and requested for approval.
He stated, “Before he accepted the appointment of the
governing party, Governor Wike decided to accept the offer after informing the
party. In other words, he had written to the party stating his position. But
the party did not respond to him, whether to confirm its approval for him to
accept the appointment or for him not to take the position. What we just did
was to keep mum and watch events.
“In the letter he wrote to the party, Wike explained that he
was going to answer the clarion call by the President and commander-in-chief of
the armed forces. Therefore, the party has not taken a position as to whether
or not that will be in its interest.”
When asked why the party kept mum on the issue, the party’s
deputy spokesperson said, “Because we were indifferent. The letter was just to
inform the party. You can tell from the wording in the letter that his mind was
made up. He routed the letter through the PDP Vice Chairman, South-South, Chief
Dan Orbih, to the acting national chairman, explaining that this is the time to
shun party affiliation to work for a united and prosperous Nigeria.”
Also, a member of the said, “Wike wrote all those he listed,
including Damagum”.
Confiding in our correspondent, the member said, “They
cannot deny it; they were all informed. He informed them that Tinubu wanted to
form a government of national unity and competence and he gave him a
ministerial offer.”
Responding to a question on whether the party gave him
approval, the source said, “I’m not aware, but to be honest, can any of these
people tell him not to accept the offer?”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com