Peter Obi’s exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been coordinated by Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), according to Paul Ibe, the spokesperson for PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar in 2023.

Ibe stated that Wike resisted Atiku’s request for the PDP to allocate the Southeast as the 2023 presidential ticket zone.

Prior to the 2023 presidential election, Obi left the PDP to run for president as the Labour Party, LP. Obi had been the party’s vice presidential nominee in the 2019 presidential contest.

With more than six million votes, he later emerged as a formidable candidate in the most recent general election.

The main opposition party has not yet managed to address its internal crisis since the PDP and LP were defeated by the All Progressives Congress, or APC, in the 2023 election.

Atiku, according to Ibe, was prepared to assign the Southeast the PDP presidential ticket.

Ibe claimed that Wike was upset by the decision to zone PDP’s ticket to the Southeast in an interview with Seun Okinbaloye for his Mic On program.

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He said: “Atiku did not force Peter Obi out of the party, Wike was instrumental in the exit of Obi because Wike had promoted the zoning of the presidency to the south.

“Atiku Abubakar had said that he was prepared to get himself off the ticket if the party zoned the ticket to the Southeast.

“Wike frustrated that effort because he believed that if it was zoned to the south, not the southeast, he would be in the best position to be able to get the ticket.”

On Saturday, Prince Uche Secondus, a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), blamed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike’s self-serving pursuit of interests for the ongoing political unrest in Rivers State.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja, Secondus claimed that Governor Siminalaye Fubura’s political issues were primarily the result of the FCT Minister.

He claimed that the outgoing governor caused suffering, loss, and agony to the state, emphasizing that the Minister has not been able to bring any federal projects to Rivers.

Secondus claims that when Fubara chose to stop the state’s theft, he and his estranged godfather had a falling out.

He clarified that those who want unrestricted access to the state’s finances—a request he said the governor has rejected—are the ones behind the current political turmoil destabilizing the state.

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Secondus said, “Wike has been Governor for eight years and is now Minister of the FCT.

“As Minister, what has he, Wike, attracted in terms of Federal projects to our dear State since he assumed office?

“Perhaps misery, grief, and anguish. As governor he supervised the exit of investors from the state due to his draconian policies.

“He had on an occasion mentioned that he is capable of causing a crisis and he is not far from the truth, as he is causing an unfathomable crisis in Rivers State.

“Mrs Patience Jonathan and I worked for his emergence as governor, have we ever breathed down his neck? Instead, what we get is disrespect and insults.

“I call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to prevail on the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike to stop overheating the Rivers State political atmosphere and allow Fubara to work. Whatever Wike thinks he is, it must be stressed that Rivers people made him.”

Prof. Iorwuese Hagher, a former Nigerian ambassador to Mexico and Canada, has officially left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Orduuga Tyokegh, the APC Ward Chairman, registered Hagher on Friday in his Utange Ward in the Katsina-Ala Local Government Area.

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Speaking upon his APC membership registration, he stated, “I have found rest, I am not in APC to look for a job, I have joined the APC to help, I am here to assist my friend Sen. Dr. George Akume who is the first Tiv man to be SGF and he is also the leader of the APC.
“All politics is local and the Shitile people where I come from have always voted for APC therefore I have decided to join them.”

According to speculation, Hagher relocated to Abuja later on Friday and visited Elder Simon Shango, the chairman of the Benue State APC Elders Council, in his office to give him his APC registration slip.