Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Umar Damagum and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, have been warned to steer clear of Rivers issue or be consumed.
Elder Statesman, Edwin Clark, who gave this warning yesterday while addressing newsmen on his letter to PDP Acting National Chairman, Amb. Iliya Damagun, expressed his frustration and concern and warned Wike to stop harassing Governor Sim Fubara, saying he will not fold his arms and watch things degenerate in Rivers State.
In an open letter to Damagum titled: “Whither PDP: To be or not to Be,” Clark, who accused Wike, Damagum and the PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu of anti-party, said that Wike must leave PDP for the party to survive. In the letter, Clark detailed allegations that Wike, a former Governor of Rivers State, is reportedly leveraging his closeness to President Bola Tinubu to exert undue pressure on both the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and the PDP itself.
Clark, a key figure in the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), emphasised that he could no longer stand idly by as Wike allegedly continues to undermine the governor and disrupt the party’s cohesion.
Clark, who also leads the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), warned Damagun that failing to address the situation could lead to a larger crisis engulfing both Wike and his allies. He emphasised his long-standing political experience, asserting that he was involved in politics long before Wike’s emergence.
The elder statesman, who said that Wike should be expelled from the party for his crime against the party, noted that the former Rivers state governor has clearly shown that he is all out to destabilize the smooth running of the Rivers State government; using his closeness to President Bola Tinubu to insult, intimidate and harass members of the party, especially those in Rivers State.
He condemned Wike’s apparent shift in allegiance, noting that despite his earlier criticisms of former Governors Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), and Ben Ayade (Cross River) for joining the All Progressives Congress (APC), Wike now appears to be aligning himself with the same ruling party.
Clark said: “After conceding that former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili and his wife made him what he is today and will forever remain grateful to them, he is now abusing them. I won’t allow him to destroy Rivers State, and claimed that, “having failed to use the APC to disrupt the PDP, Wike is now using the Party against itself.”
He called on Damagum to immediately set up a probe panel/committee to probe members like Wike, and if found guilty, to face the appropriate sanctions as prescribed by the party’ s Constitution, and not the setting up of a Reconciliation Committee under the chairmanship of Maj. Gen. Oyinlola.
He urged Damagum to also purge himself of all malfeasance, noting that he’s conniving with detractors of PDP to ruin the party, for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Clark also asked him (Damagum) to stop colluding with Wike to destroy the party, adding that a day of reckoning will come for all of man’ s activities.
Clark berated Wike for insulting and intimidating party leaders, especially the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Sen. Adolphus Wabara, when he called out that actions be taken against members carrying out anti-party activities.
According to him, Wike’ s modus operandi, is to try to cow and intimidate people to submission, to silence them, so that they will withdraw from a just cause, giving him room to display his high handedness, when he notices that he cannot buy such persons with money.
He, however, said that Wike who criticised Ben Ayade and others who defected to APC sometimes ago, he’s the one dancing in APC today thinking he will be the next President in 2027, adding that the same Wike who said APC is cancerous is now dancing to Tinubu song in the kitchen.
The elder statesman, who said Wike controls the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, not to allow his ‘boys’ to be used by Wike.
