By Sunny Onyekwere, 5 December, 2025
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described the defection of the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and 15 other lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as unfortunate direct consequence of deepening factional divisions within the PDP.
Wike however, noted that even though he was not informed by the lawmakers before their defection, they acted within their constitutional rights given the state of the party.
He added that despite the development, he remains a member of the PDP.
“It’s unfortunate. I have always said everybody has the right to make a choice.
“The party (PDP) is fully factionalised. And the requirement of the Constitution is that when a party is factionalised, members are allowed to leave,” he said.
“I’m still in the PDP. You will see that it’s not everybody that has left. I believe 16 or 17 of them have left out of 27. We still have a good number, about 10, and we will continue to work together”, Wike journalists after inspecting ongoing road projects in Abuja, Friday.
According to him, the PDP leadership should “put its house in order,” cautioning that the continued internal disarray will weaken the party’s relevance and cohesion.
“At the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it is the party that is losing.
“Those who left are free, but those who have remained in the party, we will continue to work together”, he stated.
Responding to rumours circulated days earlier that he had been arrested in France, Wike dismissed the reports as part of series of politically motivated falsehoods aimed at distracting him from his duties.
