PDP Crisis: Gov. Bala Mohammed Declares End of Wike’s Hooliganism
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has reacted to latest developments in the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, declaring that it is over for Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and his group.
DAILY POST reports that rival factions, led by governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State on one side, and FCT minister Nyesom Wike on the other, are currently battling for who occupies the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
Makinde on Tuesday stormed the secretariat alongside the newly elected National Secretary, Taofeek Arapaja, while Wike aligned with Samuel Anyanwu, the embattled National Secretary who maintains that his tenure remains valid until December 8, 2025.
The party’s national convention in Oyo State on Saturday produced a set of new leadership which the camp sponsored by Wike does not recognize.
Speaking with Arise News at the party’s national secretariat, Bauchi governor, Mohammed, said the Wike-led faction lacks the legal backing to hold a BoT or NEC meeting or use the party’s building.
“We don’t believe there is any BoT because that is an illegality. I think the media should also educate and inculcate a sense of orderliness in the political space, so that people will know precisely what you believe in, because the shenanigans the perception should be positive.
“We had a convention where some people were expelled, and then, of course, even INEC does not recognize them, and they are being backed by the police to come and do a charade BoT meeting.
“BoT is constituted by the NWC. They don’t have NWC and they don’t have a constitution. Our constitution says it all, if I’m expelled, I’m expelled, and it is not me or Sheyi Makinde, or any person, it is the convention of over 20 states of the Federation. The showdown you are seeing is a showdown between good and bad,” the governor said.
Reminded that the Wike group does not believe in the outcome of the convention, and that Anyanwu has vowed to serve out his tenure as the party’s secretary, Mohammed added, “The Convention has already dissolved his own time so the convention can obstruct any NWC anywhere.”
Asked if the new chairman Turaki is recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, he said, “Yes, he is. He’s recognized by INEC because it’s a legal issue.”
He said the speculation that the new chairman is not recognized by INEC “is a creation of one man called Wike who thinks that he can continue to pollute the political space by showing gangsterism, animism and illegalism, and by so doing, he is not helping even the present administration”.
“All the governors are here, all the senators, all the members of the House of Reps. Why is the media backing them, as if they have something in common with us?
“The police should know that this is not a faction. It is just a splinter group that wants to battle and destroy PDP, destroy the opposition, and by doing so, destroy democracy in Nigeria… because they are illiterate. They are driven by arrogance and illiteracy and impunity by impulse.
“So after the convention that we have already sent all the reports to INEC, INEC is not obliged or forced to attend any convention or any political party. Have you ever seen APC doing any convention? Did you ask them? But they have leaders, and they are recognized by INEC. Why must we be the only people that you assess?”
He continued “The Constitution does not force INEC to be there, but we must give them notice. We gave them notice, and they accepted and acknowledged. We have the acknowledgement that they got the notice if they decide not to come, that is their own free volition, but certainly we have documents that we have notified them duly and they accepted.
“So convention is legal, because all the court orders have been set aside by the courts because we have already made a plea and it has been put aside. So people should know the process of our legal system.”
On where he sees the crisis ending, should the Wike group refuse to back down, he said, “They are just being supported by the police, and you the media too. You don’t tell them the truth, but they should know that it has come to an end. That’s the end of hooliganism.
“They should go and leave us alone. Must we be with us, this man? Why is he working? Is he not working with APC? Why didn’t you ask him? Why is it moral for him to say that he will be in APC to destroy us? Is it moral for him to say that? Is it normal that he’s working for somebody, and he said, “We will not produce somebody?”