Wike must go for PDP to survive – Edwin Clark

…vows he won’t be allowed to destabilise Fubara’s govt

BY TUNDE OPALANA

First Republic Minister of Information and leader of the Ijaw nation, Chief Edwin Clark has said the survival of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) depends on the expulsion of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike.

He said Wike deserved to be expelled from the party due to his incessant actions and pronouncements directed at destroying PDP while adding that activities of the former governor are detrimental to unity and stability of the party.

Chief Clark as well named the party’s acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Ilya Damagum and National Secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu as accomplices in Wike’s anti- party activities and desperate move to destroy PDP.

He therefore charged Damagum to purge himself of malfeasance, take a bold step to institute a disciplinary committee to deal with Wike.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 2…

The elder statesman who addressed the press in his Abuja residence on Tuesday said he will continue to be at the forefront of the campaign for the expulsion of Wike from the party over impunity and plot to destabilize the government of Governor Siminalayi Fubara in Rivers State.

The leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) presented to the media an.open.letter he wrote to the acting National Chairman of PDP. The letter was titled “Whither Peoples Democratic Party, to be or not to be”.

In the letter, he reeled out what he described as the many sins of Wike against the PDP.

Clark said “the recent actions of Barr. Wike before and during the last meeting of the party in April, shows clearly that he is all out to destabilize the smooth running of the Rivers State government; he is ready to use his closeness to Mr. President to insult, intimidate and harass members of the party, especially those in Rivers State, who have decided to tow the right paths of both the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Constitution of the PDP, and who in fact were the backbone of Barr. Wike’ s government as Governor of Rivers State, for eight years.

“Section 1 of the 1999 Constitution of the country, says the constitution is supreme. Quoting, it says:

“Section 1(1) This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Barr. Nyesom Wike’s insult and intimidation of Party Leaders:

You summoned a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which Barr. Wike attended. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Sen. Adolphus Wabara, also attended the PDP Caucus meeting, in addition to attending the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC).

“As expected of a chairman desirous to make things work well in his party, Sen. Wabara called out that actions be taken against members carrying out anti-party activities. To Barr. Wike, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees has committed an offence by stating that measures should be taken against erring members. For this reason, Barr. Wike wrote a stinker in the form of a letter to him, using unprintable languages, and even threatening him, that he was coming for him.

“For the records Sen. Wabara is senior to Nyesom Wike both in age and in politics. He has held the position of number three citizen of the country as President of the Nigerian Senate, when Barr. Wike was not known, yet he (Nyesom Wike) had the temerity to send an insulting letter to him, written in red ink.

Quoted below is the said letter:

“Senator Adolphus Wabara,

Haba, how will your late wife feel the way you embarrass yourself and your family?

You are a big shame to your generation.

Rivers State matter will consume you.

I will speak about you soon.”

“This is just Barr. Wike’ s modus operandi, to try to cow and intimidate people to submission, to silence them, so that they will withdraw from a just cause, giving him room to display his high handedness, when he notices that he cannot buy such persons with money.

“Barr. Nyesom Wike’ s arbitrariness knows no bounds. As a matter of fact, his actions and attitude has become unconstitutional. His desire to want to control Rivers State using “his structure”, is against Section 1 (2) of the 1999 Constitution which says that:

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”

As a lawyer and bencher, himself, Barr. Wike should know that he is breaching the Constitution of the country and his party, the PDP.

“The actions of Barr Wike to foment and or sponsor crisis in Rivers State, wanting to make it ungovernable for Siminalayi Fubara to function as duly elected Governor of the State, because he (Wike), according to his words, does not want to lose his “political structure”, is a clear attempt to want to “take control of … part” of the country.

“It is also alleged that Barr. Wike had a hand in the court case that restrained prominent PDP members such as Uche Secondus, a former National Chairman of the party; Rt. Hon. Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives; Dr. Abiye Sekibo, a former Minister of Transportation; Sir Celestine Omeha, from attending meetings. Sen. Lee Maeba, has been crying out about threat to his life. These are prominent members of the party. But they were restrained by Barr. Wike from attending meetings of the party.”

Chief Clark, therefore, in the open letter, advised the acting National Chairman

“to immediately set up a probe panel/committee to probe members like Barr. Nyesom Wike, and if found guilty, to face the appropriate sanctions as prescribed by the party’ s constitution, and not the setting up of a Reconciliation Committee under the chairmanship of Maj. Gen. Oyinlola, with whom when I discussed, asked him whom he is reconciling, because the G-5, members have disintegrated. While the Governor of Oyo State who was a member of the G-5, has retraced his steps back to his party fully, and today leader of the party in the South-West, the other three are floating about.”

He berated both Damagum and Anyanwu for their ignoble roles in the court case involving the party in Rivers State which he said “shocked the PDP National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN as well other Nigerians”.

He said “the obvious anti- party activities of you and the National Secretary, both of whom are obviously tools in the hands of Barr. Nyesom Wike, used with all intention to bring down the government of Siminalayi Fubara, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, as confessed by Barr. Wike himself during his recent outing at Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, the local government of Sen. George Sekibo, is palpable.

“I urge you to also purge yourself of all malfeasance. As Acting National Chairman of your party, you took your party’ s NWC to court on the defection of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, that because they did leave the PDP properly, they are still members of the party, even after the 27 members had publicly declared that they have defected, and had already been received by the APC.

“Your position Mr. Acting National Chairman is antithetical to the position of Section 109. You took your party’ s NEC to court, an organ you preside over. Yet you still have the presence of mind to remain in office, earning benefits that come with the office.

“From all indications, you are conniving with detractors of PDP to ruin the party, for the All Progressives’ Congress (APC). Allow Nigerians to decide what party they want through the ballot box.

READ ALSO: Oyo APC laments loss of state chairman, Omodewu

“Stop colluding with Barr. Nyesom Wike to destroy the party. A day of reckoning will come for all of man’s activities.

I wish and pray that you will not sell your soul and conscience for pecuniary and worldly gains, otherwise you, Barr Wike and your cohorts, will be consumed by the Rivers State crisis.”