PDP summons Wike, sets to discipline members for anti-party activities

…No merger talk with any political party, nobody is above the party – NPS

By Tunde Opalana

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to wield the big stick against its members accused of engaging in anti- party activities, including the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike.

This is as the recently inaugurated National Disciplinary Committee of the party under the chairmanship of Chief Tom Ikimi has sent out invitations to those concerned.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who disclosed this on Monday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme, said Wike was summoned via a letter to appear before the committee.

Abdullahi said the steps taken by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP became necessary because the party has been inundated with numerous petitions against Wike and others on their actions and inactions prior to the 2023 general election which sabotaged fortunes of PDP in the last election.

He said: “Three weeks ago, we put up two committees in place; that of reconciliation and disciplinary, and Nyesom Wike is one of the persons to face the disciplinary committee, which is headed by elder statesman, Chief Tom Ikimi.

“The disciplinary committee will look into issues of anti-party activities.

“We’ve been receiving petitions regarding anti-party activities or sabotaging the party throughout the primary, leading to where we are now.

“These petitions against Wike and other party members have been aggregated and sent to the committee.

“Some party members even felt that Wike shouldn’t have gotten to this level still as a member of the PDP and they have been writing to the leadership.”

Abdullahi also stated that comments made by the former Rivers State governor threatening to “putting fire in their states” in obvious reference to PDP governors were wrong and unacceptable.

“Wike should be able to manage his words carefully; that was a very disappointing remark.

“We weren’t expecting him to say that, and to be honest with you, we are not with him on that”, the PDP deputy national spokesperson said.

It would be recalled that the FCT minister had last weekend threatened PDP governors for their support for Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State.

Wike spoke in Port Harcourt, on Saturday, boasting of being capable of causing crisis in the PDP states whose governor tried to interfere in Rivers State PDP affairs.

He stated that anyone who was not happy with him for serving in Tinubu’s government “should go and hug the transformer.”

Addressing a press conference later in the day at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Monday, the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba corroborated the readiness to discipline erring members.

Though Ologunagba said he cannot specifically mention who has been invited, the disciplinary committee has been mandated to invite indicted members for questioning and possible sanction where necessary.

He said ” nobody is above this party”, while adding that the PDP Governors’ Forum as a key organ of the party will respond to Wike’s threat.

Ologunagba denied merger talk between its 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el- Rufai and a few others toying with the idea of merging or floating a new political platform.

He said: “There is no merger talk with any political party. Two or three political leaders may meet and be talking on personal level. You can’t elevate that to mean merging.

“At party level, there is process for doing that. But as a party, there is nothing like that”.