The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike’s call for its candidates to collapse their political structures and support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
The party said Wike’s appeal was directed at politicians pretending to be opposition members while working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, maintained that genuine members of the party would not support Tinubu’s re-election or align themselves with the APC-led Federal Government.
Ememobong said the opposition’s responsibility was to provide Nigerians with an alternative to the incumbent government rather than support its continued stay in power.
“The news credited to Minister Nyesom Wike that PDP candidates should collapse their structures and support the re-election of President Bola Tinubu is nothing new, except for the fact that his message is not directed at real PDP members.
“The message is meant for persons who, like him, are pretenders in the opposition but are working for the governing party.”
The PDP spokesperson also criticised the proposed political arrangement described as a rainbow coalition, warning that cooperation between opposition politicians and the ruling party could undermine electoral democracy.
He maintained that any political alliance involving opposition parties should be formed among themselves rather than with the incumbent government.
“The true and principled members of the Peoples Democratic Party are not part of the shameless, self-serving support for the APC-led Federal Government and its destructive policies.
“The paramount duty of the opposition is to provide an alternative to the incumbent, not to massage their ego. If at all opposition parties are to have an alliance, it will be amongst themselves, not with the governing party.
“This political anomaly, styled and championed as a ‘rainbow coalition,’ is the greatest threat to electoral democracy and the fastest way of railroading the country into an electoral monarchy.”
Ememobong also called on PDP members to remain committed to the party as it awaits the Court of Appeal’s judgment in its ongoing legal dispute.
He expressed hope that the judiciary would deliver a decision that would return control of the party to what he described as its rightful owners. “We urge all true and faithful members of the Peoples Democratic Party to remain steadfast as we await the judiciary’s decision, hopeful that it will return our party to its true owners.
“Our case at the Court of Appeal has been heard, and we await judgment. We know that the entire judiciary is conscious that justice delayed is justice denied.”
The party further warned Nigerians against political arrangements it said were designed to accommodate powerful politicians rather than provide genuine alternatives to the government.
Ememobong called on voters to use the 2027 general election to reject politicians he accused of promoting such arrangements.
“Nigerians should be wary of elite accommodation and state capture masquerading as broad-based political collaboration. The election next year provides a great opportunity to vote out these insensitive and irresponsible political actors.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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