A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Ogbonna Nwuke has downplayed the possibility of the immediate past Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike dumping the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to him, Wike has not told the Rivers PDP anything about plans to dump the party and the PDP has also not moved against Wike in terms of suspending him, hence there is no concrete information about a defection.
OsunDailyNG reports Nwuke, a former House of Representatives member spoke against the backdrop of the recent visit of the minister-designate to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
He added that Wike and Ganduje’s friendship goes way back as both politicians have always visited each other previously and with the former Governor’s nomination as a Minister, he needs to be seen in good light with the leadership of the ruling party.
The former lawmaker concluded during his chat with Leadership yesterday that the insinuations that the former Rivers State governor wants to join the APC does not hold water.
“I believe the people strike friendship regardless of their diverse political backgrounds. You will recall that when Wike was running for president as PDP aspirant, he visited Ganduje in Kano. Ganduje is APC and Wike is PDP.
“When the Edo election took place, Wike led the PDP team and Ganduje among the APC team. So, what that means is that they share relationship and the decision of Wike to visit Ganduje who has just been made APC national chairman is not something that should raise eyebrows because they have shared relationships.
“Wike will be working in a federal government led by APC and he needs to be in good standing in terms of relationship with APC leaders. That does not in any way suggest as people are speculating that he is preparing to crossover to the APC.
“As we speak, stakeholders in Rivers State have not been briefed on the possible move from the PDP to the APC because when you talk about these things, you must talk about concrete information. All of these belong to the realm, in my view, of speculation.
“There may be differences in PDP, but Wike has not offered to resign from PDP. PDP has not moved against Wike. All of these insinuations, in my opinion does not hold water. We should wait, watch and see,” Nwuke submitted.
