Ministerial Apointment: Wike Should Defect To APC – Shehu Sani

A former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has asked the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he will be able to serve the ruling party.

The former lawmaker also called on Wike, the immediate past Rivers State Governor, to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to play its role as an opposition party.

In an interview with The Punch, Sani said Wike would be more respected if he defected to the ruling party and worked without being distrusted by both the APC and the PDP.

The former governorship aspirant said the FCT minister will lead a very confused, disorganised and unstable political career if he continues to stay in the PDP and also work for an APC government.

He said: “My advice is for Nyesom Wike to simply defect to the APC where he will be able to serve the party and also leave the PDP to play its role as an opposition party. It will be more respectable for him to join the APC and work without being distrusted by both sides because if he continues to divide his legs between the APC and the PDP, he will lead a very confused, disorganised and unstable political career.

“So, he has a lot to deliver. As a minister of the FCT, I have no doubt about his capacity as a performer. He will bring sanity to Abuja, but he is still being seen as a Judas, and the position he is occupying is his own 30 pieces of silver, and that is not a good position. The best thing is for him to defect so that he can work very well for President Tinubu and also for the APC.”

Sani also described the PDP as a weak opposition party for failing to punish Wike and other members who worked against its presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar.

He said: “The PDP has found itself in a very uncomfortable position of not being able to take action in terms of dealing with people who worked against it in the 2023 general elections. There’s no doubt about it.

“The actions of (Nyesom) Wike and his colleagues after losing the presidential primary seriously undermined the presidential ambition of Atiku Abubakar and also the chances of the party.

“So, they betrayed their political party and have now found a new camp. Wike was a man who described the PDP’s problem as malaria and the APC’s as cancer, and he has now found himself in a cancerous position.

As far as I am concerned, I think the PDP has to choose where it wants to be in the history of Nigeria’s politics at this time. Does it like to be a strong opposition party that will stand up to the excesses, brigandage and the antics of the APC? Or does it like to be a subordinate of the APC? I say so because if those who betrayed or undermined the party were allowed to go scot-free, it would encourage others to do the same. An opposition party must distinguish its position, principle, stance and focus.

“The PDP has lost power to the APC, and it is now losing the role of the opposition to the Labour Party. If you look at what is happening, most of the attacks are coming from the LP. So, it has reached a point that even most members of the APC don’t consider the PDP as a serious opposition party.”