Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has taken a swipe at Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the governor should “thank him for opening his eyes to see the light.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Poltics Today’ on Monday evening, Wike reacted to Diri’s previous comments describing some politicians as “undertakers” who came into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to destroy it.
“If I heard what he said, he claimed that some people came into the party as undertakers,” Wike said. “I didn’t just come into the party; I have been a bonafide member since 1998. I ran for local government council chairman, and you cannot win as governor of Rivers State without your local government saying this is what you did.”
Recounting his long political history in the PDP, Wike said he had served two consecutive terms as a local government chairman from 1999 before becoming governor for eight years, insisting that his political loyalty has never been in question.
“Two consecutive terms from 1999, I became a governor for eight years,” Wike said. “Let me tell you, when Diri was in PDP, he was one of those who said I was working for APC to destroy PDP. He was the chairman of the zoning committee of the party.”
The FCT Minister accused Diri of hypocrisy for now aligning with the same APC he once accused others of secretly supporting.
“When he and Seyi Makinde met in Lagos to decide on zoning for the South, they said they would not join them in the gutter,” Wike recalled. “The undertaker has now helped him to move to the party that the undertaker was paid to destroy.”
Taking a sarcastic jab at Diri’s defection, Wike said, “If he were to say I am working with APC, Diri should come to me and say, ‘Thank you, master.’ He should pay me and say, ‘Thank you for opening my eyes to see the light,’ if he were true.”
Wike defended his record of loyalty to the PDP, saying he had stood firm even when the party was under intense pressure during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“When I was a governor under Buhari, everything was done to kill PDP, but I said no way—I fought,” he stated
“Leadership is key to everything you are doing. Everybody wants to make excuses. The man they claimed is killing PDP is still in the PDP.”
