By Tajudeen Balogun
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Nyesom Wike, has distanced himself from the reconciliation agreements reached within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) citing lack of trust and violations of mutual understanding in the past, as reasons for his decision.
The immediate past Rivers State Governor made his resolve public in a statement he issued on Sunday.
Wike traced the roots of the PDP’s internal uproar to the aftermath of the 2023 general elections, lamenting about what he described as a steady decline into “dishonesty and lack of trust amongst its key stakeholders.”
He recalled a G5 meeting held in Lagos, in which the Governors elected under the first opposition platform resolved to rest all wranglings and subsequently forge ahead.
Wike traced that the meeting was followed by an expansive meeting in Abuja at Senator Bukola Saraki’s guest house, involving other top PDP figures, including Governors Bala Mohammed, (Bauchi State) Umaru Fintiri, (Adamawa State) and Seyi Makinde, (Oyo State) alongside, the former Senate President, Saraki.
He disclosed that the Abuja meeting reached clear resolutions, such as: recognition of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the PDP National Secretary, in line with a Supreme Court judgment; the withdrawal of all court cases, relating to Rivers State by the party’s National Legal Adviser and an end to cases on State of emergency declaration in Rivers.
However, the FCT Minister alleged that the resolutions were quickly and brazenly flouted, even before the Saraki-led reconciliation committee could begin its work.
Wike recalled: “To my chagrin, Seyi Makinde had connived with Peter Mba of Enugu State to orchestrate the summoning of the meeting of so-called South-East leaders to recommend that if Ude Okoye was not adopted as Secretary, they would pull out of the PDP”.
Recall that The New Diplomat reported extensively on Sunday the Saraki-led PDP reconciliation panel, with the list of conditions handed over to it by the South East zone of the party.
Justifying his decision further, Wike additionally accused party officials of attempting to sideline Anyanwu by presenting the Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo as the acting National Secretary, and using a letter from him to call for a National Executive Committee meeting.
Wike dismissed that the actions of the party leadership were “in complete violation of the agreements reached.”
He equally cited an incident which occured on May 24, 2025, in Jos, where a PDP zonal elective congress was aborted, because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to attend.
The reason, for this, Wike alleged, was because the letter of invitation was signed by the Deputy National Secretary, not the duly recognised National Secretary.
This, according to him, is undeniably distasteful, provocative and annoying, to say the least.
While recounting his long association with the PDP since 1998, Wike expressed dismay that those he assisted had risen from the grass to political limelight, but sadly, had since turned against him.
The Minister declared: “It is on record that none of these persons have done anything close to what I have done to sustain this party.
“What is more painful is that I contributed substantially to most of these governors winning their elections, yet, I have not made any personal demands on any of them and I would never do so”.
“I have now firmly decided to pull out of all agreements hitherto reached. I have decided to fight on until justice is attained,” the FCT Minister further added.
So far, neither the PDP nor its Chieftains at the centre of the crisis has reacted to Wike’s allegations and his final resolution.
