FEDERAL Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike yesterday fired back at Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors for supporting their Rivers State counterpart Siminialayi Fubara in the PDP crisis in the state.
Wike told them to keep off or have their fingers burnt.
He threatened to “put fire in their states” should they persist in their plot to deny him the party’s structure in Rivers State.
Wike is currently locked in a fierce battle with Fubara for the soul of the PDP in the state which he governed between 20l5 and 2023.
Their disagreement revolves around the control of the party’s leadership at all levels in the state.
The situation has split the party, including the legislature, into two in the state with some supporters lining up behind the governor and others siding with the minister.
The PDP Governors’ Forum had in a recent communiqué in Jalingo Taraba State restated its stand with the Governor of Rivers State and promised to “engage the NWC of our great party to revisit the congress with a view to correcting the anomaly and allowing His Excellency, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, to take his rightful leadership position of the party in the state.”
However, addressing the PDP state’s congress yesterday in Port Harcourt, Wike vowed that no one, including PDP governors, could take the party’s structure from him.
“Let me assure all of you: not while we live, nobody will take away the structure of PDP from us,” he told his supporters amid cheers.
He added: “Let me tell people, I heard that there are some governors who said they would take away the structure and give to somebody.
“I pity those governors because I will put fire in their state. When God has given you peace, you say you don’t want peace, then whatever you see you take.
“I don’t understand. I don’t understand simply because I heard they got some money and their heads are getting big that you put hand in my own state.
“Prepare because I have the capacity to also do the same thing in your own state. Whether you are from Bauchi, I don’t give a damn. Whichever state you come from, as far as I know that you are trying to put your hand in Rivers State, your hand will get burnt and you will never sleep in your state.
“You will never do governorship again. You will see political crisis as far as PDP is concerned. I have told them, when I start, don’t say I am the one that destroyed PDP.
“Allow Rivers State to conduct the affairs of the party.”
The FCT Minister said the party members had played their part by electing a governor and have now resolved to move forward since Fubara said they were no longer part of his plans.
Wike asked the PDP loyalists to see what he called their rejection and maltreatment by the governor as bad business.
He thanked them for remaining in the party and taking over its affairs.
He prayed that God might help them repeat the 2023 victory in 2027.
He said: “I assure you, yes we have done our own part by electing a government in the state. If the government says it doesn’t want us, will you kill yourselves? Will you run away from the party you built?
“We are the party members and we have taken over our party. The way we did it, how we did it in 2023, the same God will allow us, will support us and be with us in 2027. Let nobody be intimidated.
“I know how it is when you have worked hard and at the end of the day you are pushed away. I know how bad you will feel. But again, it is not every business you enter into that you gain profit, so see this one as one of those businesses that you invested and you lost.
“That will not make you not to continue to work hard, invest in the future and make your profit. So, be strong. They said that we are finished, but they are finished. Anywhere you see them say that they are finished”.
Wike alleged plan by Governor Fubara and his supporters to join the All Peoples Party (APP).
He said they should expedite their plan and face the PDP in the next election.
The minister said if he wanted to defect to another party, it would be a tsunami, but said he would not leave the PDP for anybody.
He said: “We are aware of these unstable characters. We know that they are joining APP. Let them face us in an election.
“Don’t bother about abuses. We have thick skins and we don’t even know what abuse is. So don’t say anybody is abusing you.
“They thought we would come to them and start begging. Are we begging? We are not begging.
“Let them go and see what is happening in Abuja. They know if we are talking about politics in Nigeria, we are more relevant than them.
“If today I say I will move to another party, it will be a tsunami. But we have said we will remain where we are.”
While he spoke, he was intermittently interrupted with applauses and solidarity chants by the crowd.
The PDP state congress took place at the state party Secretariat on Aba Road, Port Harcourt.
Governor Fubara and his supporters were absent, although in the programme of the event Fubara was captured in items nine and 17 for arrival and delivery of a speech.
Factional Speaker of the state assembly, Martins Amaewhule, and other PDP bigwigs in the state were seen spotting delegates’ identification cards at the occasion.
Fubara’s loyalists had obtained an interim injunction from the state High Court stopping the congress while those of Wike got a similar order from a Federal High Court to proceed with it.
Wike declared that he has no regret supporting and working for President Bola Tinubu.
His words: “We’re fully in Tinubu’s government. I have no regrets about it, and I will continue to be there. Anybody who is angry should go hug the transformer.
“I didn’t hide it in 2023 when I said PDP, I would not support you for presidential election. I did not regret it.
“When Buhari was there, you never saw me play two sides. Some of them now love the President at night but during the day, they say different things.”