PDP explains why Wike was allowed into National Caucus meeting

The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Comrade Abba Patrick Moro, from the PDP party in Benue South, has revealed why Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), was given permission to attend the National Caucus meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This meeting was held as preparation for the National Executive Committee meeting of the party that took place last week.

According  to Moro, there was no way Wike would have been stopped from attending the meeting since he has not been found guilty of any crime and penalized by the party.

The Minority Leader further stated that if the party’s disciplinary committee, led by former Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki, finds Nyesom Wike guilty of the alleged antiparty activities and sanctions him, Wike himself has stated that he will no longer attend the party’s meetings.

Moro said the survival of Amb. Umar Lliya Damagum as Acting National Chairman of PDP was not a victory or defeat for anybody but a decision that was unanimously agreed on by the relevant stakeholders for the party to forge ahead. 

Senator Moro’s reaction was against the backdrop of rumours in some quarters that Amb. Damagum’s survival, against call for his resignation, was victory for the former governor of River State,  Nyesom Wike, and a defeat for PDP Presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections,  Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Emmanuel Eche’Ofun John, Senator Moro said that  the activities and inactivities of PDP should not be translated to Atiku and Wike. He said the whole issue was not about victory or defeat for anybody but about PDP; about providing an alternative formidable platform for Nigerians to look up to.

Moro said, “We cannot translate the entirety of PDP’s activities and inactivities to Wike and Atiku, out of millions of other members of the party across the country who also have their own thinking and reasons for being in the party. The whole issue was not about Wike or Atiku, or victory for Wike or defeat for Atiku, the issue was existential. We came together and reasoned together, that in the present scenario where Nigerians are hurting due to the maladministration of the APC government, what do we do to provide an alternative platform for Nigerians to look up to? In that circumstances, we decided to thread with caution so that we dont throw away the baby with the bath water,” he said.

On why the National Caucus of the party allowed Nyesom Wike into their meeting, the Minority Leader said, “The constitution of our party is very clear on who is a member and who is not a member of the caucus of the party and I dare say, at this point, that as a former governor who is still a member of the party, Nyesom Wike is a member of the National Caucus of the party. 

“If actions had been taken immediately after the elections and people who are perceived to have acted contrary to the desires and yearnings of the PDP have been sanctioned, then we can say that having been expelled or suspended, you can’t be here, but as it is, non of such actions has been taken, so you can’t just ban people from attending meetings.

“One of the fallouts of the last NEC meeting was the resuscitation of the Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committee, which is saddled with the responsibility of identifying the area of antiparty and the dramatis personae involved in the activities, and recommend appropriate punitive measures against those who have been found guilty to serve as deterrent to future occurrence. 

“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been done, and so to that extent, as a voluntary organization, if the members involved insist they are still members of the party, until actions are taken by the Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committe we want to take that they are still members of the party.“