Bring back members who defected to other parties, Wike tells PDP NWC

According to him, many of those who left the party remain uncertain about their political future and require reassurance regarding opportunities within the PDP.

He expressed confidence that the PDP remains a strong political platform capable of attracting broad support from Nigerians ahead of future elections.

Wike said, “After the judgment of the Federal High Court that directed that the police should vacate and give you protection for you to resume activities in the official building of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I can see the work that has taken place. That shows that you are ready to kick-start daily activities. Let me also congratulate you on taking that bold initiative.

“My coming here this morning is to reassure you of my support for the members of the National Working Committee. Yes, elections have been held. After elections, you will need the support of every party member, morally and otherwise. And so, I've come here to pledge my support and my loyalty to all of you.

“Yes, we had a crisis, and we have almost come out of the crisis; it is not going to be easy. It requires a lot of hard work. It requires a lot of sacrifice for you to move the party forward. I know that you have an old hand there, you have the national secretary, the legal adviser, and the zonal vice chairmen, and particularly, the oldest one is the South-South. So you have old hands that will guide you and give you all the necessary support.

“Continue to bring out programmes that will continue to make the party popular. Yes, today we are not in government, but this is the main opposition party as far as this country is concerned. You cannot become a main opposition party without winning an election. So those who say that they are leading the opposition, they have never contested in any election.

“The one they contested is the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC); they could not get one counselor. So, how can they be the leading opposition party? They are claiming that people are defecting to their party, and that’s how they become the leading opposition. Yet again, they criticize people who are defecting to other parties - that is wrong. But those defecting to their own party - that is right. That tells you the kind of leadership they want to give to Nigerians.

National Chairman of the party, Abdulrahman Mohammed, assured Wike that there are capable men and women in the composition of the working committee and will do everything possible to lead the party to a higher level.

He said, “We are not going to disappoint Nigerians. This is the hope of our teeming supporters across the 36 states and the FCT.  PDP has come to stay, and under my leadership, we will make ourselves available to our teeming aspirants and those who will emerge as candidates to make sure that we win elective positions in the 2027 general election.

“You have done enough for this, our great party, and everyone fair to the party must attest to that. On behalf of the members of the National Working Committee, we will keep giving you all the necessary support so that our party will succeed.

“We want to thank you for the visit. We know that a lot of things need to be done at the secretariat, but we took our time to ensure that certain things are done, because a lot of things have been abandoned. Some have been taken away by the past national working committee because there is no sincerity in that leadership, and they believe that the secretariat belongs to them as individuals. We are going to correct that impression under this new leadership.”