‘I will hit back‘ — Wike accuses PDP NWC of anti-party activities

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, has accused the national working committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of alleged anti-party activities in the state.

Wike made the accusation on Monday while speaking at the Rivers PDP campaign rally in Okehi 1, Etche LGA of the state.

The PDP in Rivers had sued some political parties in the state for allegedly violating certain provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act on conducting primaries.

But Wike said the national leadership of the PDP wrote to lawyers handling the suit on behalf of the party to withdraw their legal representations.

While describing the action as “anti-party activities”, Wike told PDP supporters in the state that he would “hit back” on Tuesday.

“We have caught them. They are the ones engaged in anti-party,” he said.

“I told them ‘anti-party begets anti-party’. You know we carried these small parties (APC, SDP) to court for failing to do what the law says.

“The people in Abuja that say they are national have gone to collude with them (opposition parties) to write our lawyers a letter that they should take their hands off in order to kill the cases we filed. I have told our lawyers to withdraw from the matter. I will hit them back by tomorrow.

“Nobody hurts us without sustaining a scar. Anybody who dares to touch us in Rivers state, I will inflict many scars on him and we have started it.

“We are voting for our people here. Now you (PDP NWC) have told us you are doing anti-party. We will show you what anti-party is. Already, we have caught them red-handed.”

Days ago, the PDP NWC suspended Chimaroke Nnamani, senator representing Enugu west senatorial district, and some members of the party over alleged anti-party activities.

Although the PDP did not disclose the exact offences of the suspended members, Nnamani has publicly expressed his support for Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party had warned that it will “respond” to those who are members of the party but do not support the presidential bid of Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s standard-bearer.

While it is unclear how Wike intends to “hit back” at the party, he had promised to announce his preferred presidential candidate before the end of January.

Wike and his allies known as PDP G5 — Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia — have not declared support for Abubakar.

The governors are demanding the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu as the party’s national chairman.

Their demand for Ayu’s resignation is on the grounds that the PDP national chair and the party’s presidential candidate should not be from the same region.