Wike, Bala Mohammed at loggerheads over PDP, APC

By Soni Daniel, Cliford Ndujihe, Omeiza Ajayi &  Luminous Jannamike, ABUJA

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, yesterday engaged in a fierce war of words over the governor’s looming defection from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to either the All Progressives Congress, APC, or the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

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While Mohammed fingered Wike for the PDP crisis, and the reason he is leaving the party, Wike mocked the governor over his inability to negotiate his way to the APC, describing his impending exit from the PDP as good riddance to bad rubbish.

Governor Mohammed, one of the remaining PDP governors and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, has indicated readiness to dump the party amid its lingering internal crisis.

The governor, who met with ADC leaders on Tuesday and APC leaders yesterday at Bauchi Government House, has kept both parties guessing over his next political move.

A leader of the ADC told Vanguard yesterday, “We are waiting but I can’t confirm whether or not he is joining us. The APC people have also gone to see him. After tomorrow, you can call me, then we can talk.”

Wike responsible for PDP’s problems, unwilling to reconcile – Bauchi gov

Speaking after the meeting with ADC leaders on Tuesday, Mohammed blamed Wike for the PDP crisis which, he said, informed his decision to consider leaving the party.

‘’I have done everything possible to reconcile within the PDP. I met APC leadership at the national level, including its chairman, and even met the President three times in an effort to encourage reconciliation. 

‘’I also met Nyesom Wike personally, putting aside personal pride. However, his position was clear; he believes he has already taken control of the party.

“We have found ourselves in a very serious situation. I have done everything possible to ensure reconciliation, but it has not worked,” he said.

Keeps ADC, APC guessing

“We explored all options, including the APC, but sadly, we discovered that we are not wanted there.”

He added that the ADC currently appears more receptive.

“As of now, ADC appears to be a very welcoming and acceptable platform. However, we have not concluded discussions. We are engaging stakeholders to ensure we do not make mistakes.”

Mohammed said a final decision would be taken soon. 

“We are very conscious of the timeline. Everything will be concluded by Thursday so that we can move forward together. You will hear a firm commitment from us,” he said.

APC chairman meets Mohammed amid defection talks

Meanwhile, National Chairman of the APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, met with Bala Mohammed, at Government House in Bauchi yesterday, amid reports of the governor’s planned defection from the PDP.

Yilwatda was accompanied by Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf.

The meeting was held behind closed doors, with none of the parties addressing journalists afterwards.

Sources at Government House said the visit might be connected with efforts to persuade Mohammed to reconsider his reported move to the ADC and instead, align with APC.

The development comes barely 24 hours after the governor, who chairs the PDP Governors’ Forum, hosted a delegation of the ADC, led by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.

Bala’s exit from PDP good riddance — Wike

Attacking Mohammed, Wike, speaking during an inspection of projects in Abuja, described the governor’s planned exit from the PDP as “good riddance to bad rubbish,” alleging that the Bauchi governor had been engaged in desperate behind-the-scenes negotiations for political survival.

According to him, Mohammed held multiple meetings with President Bola Tinubu in a bid to secure entry into the APC.

“It is very embarrassing. He said he went to see Mr President three times. What did he go to see Mr President for? He went to negotiate so that he can bring his successor and the APC refused him.

“He came to me and said he had gone to Mr President and would work for him. Why didn’t he tell Nigerians he met Mr President three times? You are in another party and going to see Mr President to solve your party problem?”

Wike further disclosed that Mohammed also sought his intervention within the PDP structure but failed.

Wike’s attack

In what appeared an explosive revelation, Wike detailed what he described as a desperate and ultimately last-minute failed attempt by the Bauchi governor to jump ship to the ruling APC or negotiate for positions within the National Working Committee NWC of the PDP. 

According to the minister, Governor Mohammed’s public posturing as a party loyalist masks a behind-the-scenes scramble for political survival.

Wike alleged that the governor engaged in a series of high-level negotiations to facilitate his entry into the APC, claiming that Mohammed met with President Bola Tinubu on three separate occasions to discuss defection terms.

The minister also revealed how the governor sought his personal intervention, meeting with him once to help navigate his way within the current PDP structure.  Despite these efforts, the move reportedly collapsed when the APC leadership refused to grant Mohammed the specific concessions he demanded, particularly the right to hand-pick his successor and a guaranteed Senate ticket.

Wike mocked these failed negotiations, suggesting that the ruling party saw through the governor’s “political double-dealing” and realized he brought more liability than value to their fold. The rift between the two leaders took a sharper turn as Wike addressed Mohammed’s relationship with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

While Mohammed has long served as a prominent figure in Atiku’s political circle, Wike alleged that the governor’s private comments tell a different story.

Wike alleged that the Bauchi governor had in 2022 attempted to negotiate with the APC and had once flown to Port Harcourt to meet him to lobby for then-candidate Tinubu, only to flip back to Atiku just four days later.

On allegations by Mohammed that he (Wike) was planted in the PDP to destroy the party, the minister said: “It is very embarrassing. He (Mohammed) said he went to see Mr President three times. What did he go to see Mr President for? He went to negotiate so that he can bring his successor and the APC refused him.

“He came to me that look, he went to Mr President and he told Mr President that he will work for him and so he was coming to see me. Why did he not tell Nigerians that he was going to see Mr President three times? You are in a different party. You are going to see Mr President to intervene. How will somebody in another party solve your own problem in your party? 

“Why can’t we tell Nigerians the simple truth? This accusation of me being planted, they have always made that accusation but all those who accused me, where are they now? The APC. So who now has told the truth? If you are accusing me that I am an agent to destroy your party, you have now left your party to join them while I am not there. So who has told the truth? I have said I will not leave the PDP. I have said that I will continue to support Mr President. That has been my position from 2022 to 2023 till now. 

“People should come out and tell people the truth. You see, Bala came to me and he said, look, can we shift this convention? I said, why? He said, so that all of us can work together. I said, fine. Remember that the court said the convention should not hold. Remember, you disobeyed the court order and you went ahead, even before then, You set up an elders committee. But I came up to say, look, let’s stop this convention. Let’s set up the caretaker committee. You refused. You went ahead with the convention. Fine. You went back to the Federal High Court in Ibadan to validate the convention, and the Federal High Court said, ‘how can you come to us to validate when you have disobeyed our order, our judgment, that says do not hold the convention? You are now coming back to us. It’s an insult. We will not give you. That convention will not stand’. 

“And therefore,  they recognized the caretaker committee to be the ones to run the affairs of the party pending when the convention will be held. Now, the caretaker committee has come up to say, our convention will hold, and you are now coming to tell me, let us not hold the convention. We are not law-breakers. We listen and we obey the law and look at the judgment of the court”, he said. 

Wanted Anyanwu’s position

Wike said the Bauchi governor wanted to negotiate a replacement for the National Secretary of the PDP, Senator Sam Anyanwu, a demand he said he rebuffed, saying the governor was already conquered and is not negotiating from a position of strength. 

“He (Mohammed) now said, can they have some positions? I said, what kind of position do you want to have? He said, can we give him National Secretary? I said, look, you are a conquered person and you are looking for a big elephant? You are already conquered, you lost. You are talking from a weak point and you want to demand Secretary. That is not done. We will not do that. But I can say, it is not about me. If you come to the convention, or tell your people to buy the nomination form, then before the convention, we can sit and say, okay, let us concede this and let us concede that. But not for you to come to say, give us secretary. It is not going to happen. And he now said, okay, let him go back and meet his people and come back. That was the end of the story.

“But luckily, if you heard what he said, he had tried and has now seen that even the APC does not want him. Even the PDP does not want him again. So the only alternative he has is to go to ADC”.

What he said about Atiku

The minister claimed that in confidential settings, the Bauchi governor had been highly dismissive of Atiku’s future prospects, portraying the former VP as a spent force while publicly leaning on his influence to maintain relevance within the PDP.

Wike argued that this lack of consistency is what led to the governor’s current isolation. He stated that Mohammed’s attempt to play the “Atiku card” while simultaneously knocking on the doors of the Presidency is a testament to a “headless” political strategy that has left him without a home in either major party.

He maintained that the PDP is better served by the exit of members who are “not firm,” asserting that true leadership requires staying to solve internal crises rather than shopping for the highest bidder.

The minister warned that those who left the party after failing to secure personal deals will find that “the grass is not always greener,” especially when their attempts to join the opposition are met with a closed door.

“This was the same man, and I want Nigerians to hear, in 2022, 2023, when the president emerged as the presidential candidate of APC, this same Bala Mohammed, no shame, no character, this same man flew down to Port Harcourt to meet me that we have to work for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that he can never work with Atiku. It didn’t take four days, the same man who came to lure me, now moved to the same Atiku. Even this meeting, he came to meet me, he inferred that, Atiku hates him, that he will never….that is why we should make sure that since he cannot go to APC, let us be in PDP. I agreed. 

“The same man now has also moved to the same Atiku’s party. What kind of character? This is what I have always said. They don’t even know that Nigerians are watching them. He tells you one thing today, he says one thing in the morning, in the afternoon, he says a different thing. In the night, he says a different thing. So Bala, we are very happy that you have told Nigerians who you are, that you are never stable and this is why people cannot deal with you. You are looking for who, which platform will give you, because why is he also angry? We have dissolved the structure in Bauchi, and we had a congress that produced a new leadership and he knows he cannot get through. So he has no choice”, he said. 

Wike also expressed hope that Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo state will join the Bauchi governor in the ADC. 

Apparently referring to Makinde, the minister said: “I know his brother from the ‘Amala’ area will also join them but that is not the point. The point is that, we, for now are the leading opposition party and we have no regrets but it will not continue to be like that. We will make our points in 2027. From there, we will move on”. 

Asked whether he has now succeeded in making good his threat to set fire in Mohammed’s backyard having warned him to desist from meddling in the politics of Rivers State, Wike said; “Yes, have I ever hidden my intention? He came to put his hand in Rivers state and I said, look, I am going to give you back. Has he not lost it? So, I mean, we will know who is now bigger in the game”.

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