The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is still struggling to explain its inaction in bringing sanctions against former Rivers State governor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike despite his alleged anti-party activities.
Despite his open romance with President Bola Tinubu’s APC-led government and repeated verbal swipes at the PDP, Wike has not faced a single disciplinary sanction. The development has fueled claims that the party has lost the courage to call one of its loudest dissenters to order.
PDP Deputy National Legal Adviser, Barr Okechukwu Osuoha, said in an interview that the problem lies in procedure, not politics. According to him, no formal petition supported with evidence has been submitted against Wike or any other member for the PDP to sanction him, reports Vanguard.
“At our NEC meeting, we set up a disciplinary committee headed by Chief Tom Ikimi, with Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) as secretary. They were mandated to handle any infractions. But up till today, no one has been prosecuted or sanctioned. Many ask me specifically about the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. I tell them it is not enough to allege an offence; a formal petition must be written and backed with evidence,” Osuoha said in observing why no sanctions have been taken against Wike.
But Wike’s critics within the party argue that the legalistic excuse and lack of sanction only emboldens him against the PDP.
They point to his unrepentant posture since the 2023 polls, when he spearheaded the G-5 governors’ rebellion against the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The group accused Atiku and the party leadership of sidelining the South in the power-sharing arrangement, a quarrel that badly fractured PDP’s electoral chances.
Since then, Wike has remained defiant, openly applauding Tinubu, taking up a strategic seat in the APC-led Federal Government, and allegedly working to weaken the PDP’s structures in Rivers and other states without as much as a sanction.
Analysts warn that the PDP’s hesitation in sanctioning Wike could have far-reaching consequences ahead of 2027. To many, Wike has effectively positioned himself as a power broker across two parties, leaving the PDP torn between enforcing discipline and risking further implosion.
