- Says I’m not ready to forgive Fubara
- Admits Edo REC is a cousin
- Insists no one can intimidate him
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says no one in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can boldly described him as a mole in the country’s main opposition party.
Challenging any governor or leader of the Party to publicly call him a mole, the Minister said unlike some other politicians, he is a man of his words who stands by his beliefs and actions.
Wike, who boasted that no PDP member can term him an outsider or a mole engaging in anti-party activities, said; “There is nobody, no governor today in PDP, not anybody born of a woman can say I am an outsider.
“I dare anybody in the PDP to come out on national television. I dare any governor, I dare any National Working Committee member, to come out on national television to say I am a mole,”
The immediate past governor of Rivers State, who appeared on Channels Television’s programme, “Politics Today,” expressed his readiness to do battle with anyone daring to come forward boldly and accuse him of being a mole in the PDP
According to him, all the actions taken before, during and after the 2023 elections have been done in the open because he has nothing to hide or be afraid of anybody within the party.
He further defended himself thus; “Before I accepted my appointment as Minister, I wrote a letter to the PDP in my state, I wrote a letter to the PDP in my Zone, I wrote a letter to the PDP national, who in PDP is saying I’m a mole, name names.
“The problem we have in this country is that some people think they’re smart. What I want to do I will do, what I don’t want to do I will not do.
“I dare anybody in PDP, I dare any governor, I dare any National Working Committee member to come on national television to say I’m a mole.”
Specifically commenting on events preceding the 2023 elections and afterwards, the FCT Minster said; “In 2023, did I not say I won’t support the PDP (Presidential) candidate because it is against equity, it is against fairness? Did I do it at the back?
“Did the PDP not win the governorship? Did the PDP not win the National Assembly? Did the PDP not win the State Assembly? I challenge any of them in any of these (PDP) states who won 100 per cent as we have. How did we do it? Leadership!”
While describing himself as a man of his word, Wike disclosed ahead of the upcoming Edo State gubernatorial polls, Governor Godwin Obaseki had approached him seeking support for his preferred successor, Dr Asue Ighodalo, but he told him bluntly that such would not happen because his support for him (Obaseki) in the past only resulted in unending insults and abuses on his person.
Openly distancing himself from the PDP candidate, who is being backed by Obaseki, the FCT Minister called the Edo Governor an ingrate, saying; “I told them when they came to me that I am not going to support you, neither am I going to support anybody. The one I supported, it never helped anything. Rather I was insulted. I supported him the last time, what happened? I became a stupid man”
Responding to a question if he has soft spot for the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s flag bearer, Monday Okpebholo, the former governor retorted; “I’m not a member of the party.”
However, despite acknowledging that the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Anugbum Onuoha is his first cousin, Wike boasted that like him, “nobody can intimidate my cousin, not even the INEC Chairman. Nobody born of a woman can intimidate my cousin into doing what is not right.”
The former Rivers State Governor, while noting that the REC was posted to Edo state more than a year ago, expressed surprise that the PDP is suddenly waking up to raise an alarm and create a mountain out of a mole hill just because electoral defeat now stares them glaringly in the face.
On the current political impasse between him and his successor at the Rivers State Government House, Wike maintained that Governor Similaye Fubara’s decision to destroy the political family that toiled to bring him to power was an offence he was unwilling to forgive.
