Wike has since left PDP, no longer relevant— NEC member

Given his conduct before, during, and after the 2023 general elections, Timothy Osadolor, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Executive Committee, claims that Nyesom Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers State, is no longer a member of the party.

The PDP leadership resolved to isolate Wike and make him irrelevant in the party’s operations, according to Osadolor, who dropped the hint in a telephone call with The Punch on Tuesday.

He claims that Wike’s recent public appearances, in which he appeared to be moving toward the All Progressives Congress, expose him as a man who is constantly craving attention, regardless of the cost to his reputation as a leader of the opposition political party.

He said, “The PDP has ignored Wike because the man is no longer himself. There are more ways to deal with people apart from sanctioning them. You can keep someone in isolation. He (Wike) can boast that he is the one that stayed away but is it not better to stay away than come to party activities and nobody wants to associate with you? He has been given a cold treatment because he went to court to procure a judgment that says he cannot be suspended but there is no judgment that says he cannot be avoided. That is what the PDP has been doing to him and technically, if Wike wants to say the truth, he will tell you that he is no longer a member of the PDP. No PDP leader or member behaves the way he does.”

But in a swift reaction, a chieftain of the PDP and immediate past Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chris Finebone, said Wike remained a bona fide member of the opposition party.

Describing Osadolor’s comments as wishful thinking, Finebone said he does not have any power to speak for the party.

He stated, “We can’t identify who he represents, but I think it is wishful thinking. It is wishful thinking and the man who is said to have said that is inconsequential as far as we are concerned.

“And so, whatever he has said is of no effect. His Excellency, the former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is 110 per cent a member of PDP and nothing has changed. And nothing can change it.”

On the accusation that Wike has been hobnobbing with Tinubu, he said it was petty and frivolous.