Former Jigawa State governor and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has declared he will no longer attend any party meetings until Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is expelled from the party.
Lamido, who was conspicuously absent from the PDP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held Tuesday in Abuja, accused Wike and other alleged “impostors” of destroying the party from within.
“Wike is a disaster. He is a product of the PDP, made relevant by the party, nurtured and celebrated by the party. But today, he turns around to destroy it,” Lamido said while addressing journalists in Abuja.
The PDP NEC, which is the party’s highest decision-making organ, includes serving and former presidents, vice-presidents, governors, principal officers of the National Assembly, state party chairmen, members of the National Working Committee (NWC), former governors, and founding members.
Lamido said he could no longer sit at the table with those he described as traitors to the party’s ideals.
“I cannot sit in the same meeting with impostors. Until the party removes these people, I will not attend PDP meetings. I am still a loyal member, but I won’t dignify this rot,” he stated.
He also took aim at the PDP’s NWC, criticising the leadership’s failure to expel Wike and other figures accused of anti-party conduct.
“What exactly is the NWC afraid of?” he asked.
“Why hasn’t Wike been expelled? Why is Samuel Ortom (former governor of Benue) still on the board of trustees after publicly endorsing Tinubu? These are fundamental breaches. If this party is to survive, it must cleanse itself.”
Lamido further accused Wike of orchestrating the sealing of the PDP national secretariat by the FCTA, calling it an assault on the institution that gave Wike his political platform.
“To seal the PDP secretariat, an institution that gave you life, is un-African, un-Nigerian, and a total abuse of power.
“Wike’s thinking is warped. He lacks the cultural and moral grounding that our political tradition demands.”
Interestingly, Lamido praised President Bola Tinubu for issuing a 14-day ultimatum to FCT ground rent defaulters, contrasting it with what he called Wike’s sycophancy.
“Ironically, the man Wike is trying to impress was the one who called him to order. That tells you everything.
“Even Tinubu is beginning to see that Wike is unreliable, without tradition and pedigree. And I assure you, he will soon abandon him too,” Lamido said.
He also warned against what he termed a creeping one-party state, describing it as a “state-sponsored sabotage.”
The PDP has been engulfed in internal strife since 2022, with the fallout from the 2023 general elections deepening rifts among party leaders and loyalists.
