Call Wike to order, PDP spokesperson urges Tinubu

The Publicity Secretary elected at the Ibadan convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ini Ememobong Essien, on Tuesday criticised the police for dispersing PDP officials and journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

Essien called on President Bola Tinubu to rein in the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Essien stated this to reporters after officers fired tear gas to disperse party members and journalists gathered at the secretariat.

He said several PDP governors were among those affected, adding that the police had earlier been briefed on the party’s concerns during a meeting between the national chairman and the Commissioner of Police on Monday.

According to him, security operatives allowed access to individuals already expelled from the party while preventing other members, including governors and the national chairman, from entering the premises.

He said, “You have been tear-gassed. All of us know the truth. Today, some governors have been tear-gassed — for what reason? Yesterday, the chairman of our party was in a meeting with the Commissioner of Police, and we clearly stated the issues. But this morning, they aided and abetted the entry of people who had been expelled from the party and then prevented the original owners of the party from coming in.

“The true situation is that the police came in. We went in and met people who, immediately they saw that the owners of the party had come, excused themselves. The press was addressed by the national chairman, and we sat there.

“While we were about leaving — and we had postponed the meeting we were supposed to hold on the basis of security — someone was escorted in. The same people who stopped us from coming in, who stopped two governors and the national chairman from coming in, were escorting someone. And so we remained here.”

Essien said Wike had been involved in multiple disputes within the party and urged the president to call him to order. He warned that failure to do so would damage the country’s democratic record.

“What we expect is the restoration of sanity. And we are calling on the president. History will record this. This is a president who led the opposition for so long, and never at any time was he treated like this. We are not asking him to help the opposition; we are simply asking him to remove his hands from the opposition.

“This one human being has had problems with almost everyone. If you share the problems he has had with his fellow ministers. And if the president cannot call his minister to order, then history will record for him that he destroyed this republic.”

Earlier, supporters of the Wike-led faction of the PDP took over the surrounding streets of Wadata Plaza, the edifice housing the party headquarters, Wuse, Zone 5, Abuja.

The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as “No to Turaki,” “Turaki must go,” among others.

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Turaki emerged as the National Chairman of the PDP in a disputed convention on Saturday, boycotted by the Wike-led faction.

Meanwhile, on Monday, both camps gave notice of executive meetings at the party’s secretariat on Tuesday.