The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, responding to the shocking defection on 16 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to the APC, on Friday has stated that they were free to leave.
Wike stated this while addressing journalists after inspecting the ongoing construction of an interchange bridge connecting Maitama, Gishiri, Jahi, and Gwarimpa in Abuja.
He declared that his faction will keep cooperating with the lawmakers who were still party loyal.
The minister called the lawmakers’ departure “unfortunate,” saying that it was partly caused by the party’s internal strife.
“Well, it’s unfortunate. I have always said that everybody has the right to make a choice. The party is fully factionalised. And the requirement of the Constitution is that when a party is factionalised, they are allowed to leave the party.
“You will see that it’s not everybody who has left. I believe 16 or 17 of them have left out of 27. We still have a good number, about 10, and we will continue to work together,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka.
Wike’s comment comes amid widely circulated reports that Wike had reached an agreement with the Rivers Assembly to formally defect to the APC on Friday (tomorrow), assuming all goes according to plan, in an attempt to regain his relevance.
However, the minister refuted these claims adding that “They never told me, but they have a right,” he said.
The minister also stated that he remained in the PDP, urging the party to put its house in order.
“I’m still in the PDP. So those who have remained, we’ll continue to work together. And I have said to the party, ‘Put your house in order. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that will lose’.
“And we still ask the party to work together to see how the remaining members will be a relevant opposition. But they chose not to.
“So for me, those who have left are free. But those who remain in the party, we will continue to work together,” the minister added.
According to the Speaker, the President “means well for the country”
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