Worry by the leadership crisis rocking the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nyesom Wike, has declared that the PDP is not ready to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu, saying the second term ticket is 50 percent sure for the president of the country.
Wike said that should the party continue its trend, there were chances that the PDP would become less relevant and popular before the electorate which would result to losing elections continuously in the country.
The minister stressed that the leadership of the PDP has been factionalised with the governors holding a different stand against that of the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, on the plan for the 2027 election as well as which of the party members would form the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP.
He stated this on Friday during media chat in Abuja while responding to issues affecting the PDP and other national issues across the country.
Wike noted that rather than unite and chart a way forward ahead of the next election, the party members were busy on coalition which he described as a selfish agenda being pushed by its proponents.
While accusing the masterminds of the coalition of running away from issues bedevilling the PDP, the former governor argued that all the efforts would not yield the party desired results.
He said, “those who are looking for a coalition are for selfish interests, the likes of Atiku and other people, which coalition, with whom?
“Why not come in to repair your party? Everybody wants to become president of the country, nobody wants to say, look, let me build our party so that at the end of the day, our party will be in a formidable position as an opposition party to take over power.
“You don’t do that, the only thing you want to do is let me find a way; how I will be the one, and if that does not happen, then it’s to your tent, oh Israel,” the immediate past governor of Rivers state said.
Atiku and a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, were among political heavyweights planning to float a coalition to dislodge the APC and Tinubu in the 2027 election.
That push has continued to make headlines in the country in the past months, but Wike said those behind it, especially members of the main opposition PDP, should fix their party instead.
Wike criticised Atiku, the arrowhead of the coalition movement, saying the ex-VP is about to make the mistakes that led to the PDP’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election.
“You make the mistake yesterday, you want to repeat the same mistake today, tomorrow you make the same mistake, and then you come out to say you were rigged out, who rigged you out? You’ve already rigged yourself by causing crisis,” Wike said.
The minister, who is a member of the PDP, also said the party is not ready for the next presidential election scheduled for 2027.
“The PDP is not ready for the 2027 election. It is very obvious. For instance, I have an examination and I am going to class to read. Indeed, am I reading? Am I studying? You don’t need to deceive anybody that you are reading. You are only trying to read so that people will see that you have carried your bag to class,” he said.
“That is the situation of the PDP. So, they cannot say for sure that they are ready for 2027. Power struggle cannot help the party.”
