The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, says lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected to the ruling All All Progressives Congress, APC did not inform him about their decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The minister, however, said the defecting lawmakers have the right to make their political choice, saying he will continue to work with the 10 lawmakers who remained in the PDP.
Wike spoke on Friday while addressing journalists after inspecting the ongoing construction of an interchange bridge connecting Maitama, Gishiri, Jahi, and Gwarimpa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
His remark comes barely hours after 16 lawmakers in the Assembly, including the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule dumped the PDP for the APC.
The Speaker, is a close ally of the Minister, and not a few insist that the defection has the imprimatur of the minister, who is currently working with the APC.
Reacting, Wike blamed the defection on the leadership crisis in the PDP, saying the factionalisation in the opposition party made it possible for the lawmakers to defect.
He urged the party to put its house in order or lose entire, adding that he would continue to work for the progress of the party.
Wike: “Well, it’s unfortunate. I have always said that everybody has the right to make a choice. The party is fully factionalised. And the requirement of the Constitution is that when a party is factionalised, they are allowed to leave the party.
“You will see that it’s not everybody who 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. They never told me, but they have a right.
“I’m still in the PDP. So those who have remained, we’ll continue to work together. And I have said to the party, put your house in order. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that will lose.
“And we still ask the party to work together to see how the remaining members will be a relevant opposition. But they chose not to. So for me, those who have left are free. But those who remain in the party, we will continue to work together.”
Those watching developments in the oil bearing state, informed the magazine that the lawmaker’ defection is a prelude to the minister and Governor Siminalayi Fubara defection to the ruling party.
“It’s a matter of time” a political analyst said on Friday.
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Nyesome Wike, the Demigod of Rivers State. I laff in Ikwerre language.