PDP lacks structure to challenge APC in 2027—Wike
*Berates Atiku for spearheading coalition ahead of 2027 elections
By Abubakar Y Ojima-Ojo
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lacks the organisational strength to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 Nigerian general elections.
Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Friday, Wike dismissed the PDP’s preparedness, likening its efforts to a student pretending to study for an examination.
“The PDP is not ready for the 2027 election. It is very obvious,” he said.
“Power struggles cannot help the party.”
Wike’s remarks come as opposition leaders across Nigeria intensify efforts to form a united front against the APC, which has governed since 2015.
The minister berated former vice president Atiku Abubakar for spearheading a coalition at the detriment of his party ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku, who is a founding member of the PDP, has been championing a coalition of opposition political parties to oust President Bola Tinubu in the next election.
The former vice president recently said the coalition would adopt a platform that would guarantee good governance as its party for the election.
However, Wike faulted Atiku’s call for a coalition, saying the move is a ploy to make himself the coalition’s presidential candidate again in 2027.
It would be recalled that governors elected on the PDP platform recently rejected the talks about a coalition, saying their party is only open to those who wish to join it.
In his submissions, Wike said Atiku and his likes should be working to make the PDP a formidable opposition rather than spearheading another opposition party.
He said, “On the side of those seeking coalition is selfish interest, the likes of Atiku and other people. Which coalition with who? Why not come to your party? Everybody wants to be president of the country, no body wants to say let me build our party, so that at the end of the day, our party will be in a formidable position as an opposition party to take over power. You don’t do that, only what you want is let me find a way how I will be the one, if that does not happen, to your tents, O Isreal.”
The former Governor of Rivers State slammed Atiku for being an arrowhead of the coalition, saying the ex-VP is going to repeat the same mistake that snowballed into an unresolved crisis that led to the party’s defeat in the 2023 election.
“You make the mistake yesterday, you want to repeat the same mistake today, tomorrow you make the same mistake and then you come out to say you were rigged out, who rigged you out? You’ve already rigged yourself by causing crisis,” Wike said.
