Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has issued a stern warning to his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against any attempt to re-admit the former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, into the PDP.
He said doing such would amount to an act of self-destruction for the opposition party.
Wike, who made this known while speaking during a monthly media chat with select journalists in Abuja on Monday, accused the PDP of failing to learn from the “political suicide” that led to its defeat in the 2023 general election.
He centered his argument on the party’s neglect of the principles of zoning and equity, recounting that he and other leaders had forewarned the party against allowing both its presidential candidate and national chairman to emerge from the same northern region, a structure he condemned as fundamentally unjust.
“From day one, I told my colleagues, ‘PDP, you are shooting yourself. If you allow what is going on to continue, you’ll pay. You cannot have the presidential candidate at the same time as the national chairman of the party’,” he said.
The FCT minister accused the party leadership of arrogantly disregarding the calls for balance, a decision he believed directly led to PDP’s electoral downfall.
“It is better now you have stolen the presidential ticket, and again stole the national chairman. I said it will purge you. And it really purged them. I have no regret for it,” he said.
While speaking on the recent speculations about Peter Obi’s possible return to the PDP, Wike dismissed the notion as not only hypocritical, but also existentially dangerous for the party.
He questioned the logic of welcoming back a figure who had publicly condemned the PDP.
“To what? Bringing Obi to where? You want to kill the party? Obi that was abusing the party, saying it is rotten, so the party is now good enough for him? Ambition can make people even go to Satan’s house,” he said.
The minister insisted that such a move, driven by mere political ambition, would obliterate the party’s remaining credibility and ideological foundation.
“If you want to destroy this party, dare it, bring Obi. There is no way he will come back just because of ambition. No more ideology, no longer principle,” he said.
He reaffirmed his long-held stance that the only viable path for the PDP to regain national prominence is a strict adherence to the principles of rotation, equity, and justice, ensuring the presidency returns to the South.
