By Ayo Yusuf
A few days after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former governor of Rivers State Mr. Nyesom Wike dared the People’s Democratic Party to suspend him, a former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has warned the party against taken any such drastic measures against the minister.
Mr. Fayose, a stalwart of the PDP, said he was convinced things would be worse for the party if it sacked the controversial minister.
Mr. Wike remains a chieftain of the PDP despite reportedly working against Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the party’s candidate in the 2023 presidential election and taken up appointment as a member of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
Following recent calls by some PDP stalwarts that the minister should be censured for alleged anti-party activities, Mr. Fayose warned that the party risked doing so at its own peril.
“Some people say fight Wike, expel Wike, sack Wike. I think they do that at their own peril. You see, the first thing in your family even when you have extreme situations, or indifferences, is not to drive away your wife or husband. Wike is a force in the PDP and beyond PDP, a force you cannot ignore,” he said on Channels Television’s Hard Copy, which aired Friday night.
“Ignore Wike, sack Wike, or fight Wike at your own peril. He is a man of capacity,” he said, noting that the PDP needs to unite members and work together to reposition the party which came second in this year’s presidential election.
Mr. Fayose reiterated his belief that it was the time for the southern part of Nigeria to produce the president, saying it would have been unfair for the northern region to have done so.
However, in spite of his disagreement with his party over the fielding of Atiku Abubakar, a candidate from the northern region, as its presidential candidate in the last elections, Mr. Fayose said he had no plans to leave the main opposition party.
“The moment I am not in the PDP, I would never join another political,” he said. “And I would never be a member of the APC – not whether they are good or bad.” He also debunked reports of him resigning from the PDP.
Speaking about the recent wave of coups in Africa, Mr. Fayose attributed the phenomenon to the sit-tight syndrome of African leaders.
Even as he claimed to hate military incursion into politics, Mr Fayose said he was “very happy” with developments in Gabon after soldiers seized power in the oil-rich Central African nation.
“In a country where one man is spending 30, 40 years, they must boot him out of the place,” he maintained.
No One Can Suspend Me
It would be recalled that in a recent statement that has rilled many PDP leaders Mr Wike dared the leadership of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to suspend or discipline him.
The minister who spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Wednesday, said there was no one in the party who will suspend or expel him from the party.
“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,” Wike had said.
The ex-governor said he informed PDP leadership before he took ministerial position in President Tinubu’s ruling All Progressives Congress government.
Mr. Wike said he remained a PDP chieftain despite working for the APC government. “I want to support Asiwaju (Tinubu) to finish well,” he said.
The PDP powerbroker and member of it’s infamous G5 group said he owed no one any apology for supporting power shift to southern Nigeria.
“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 said.
