The chairman of the PDP Advocate for Peace and Justice, Dr Tom FredFish, has expressed confidence that the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom will emerge stronger despite recent defections.
In June 2025, the PDP lost Governor Umo Eno and some lawmakers to the All Progressives Congress, a development seen as a major setback for the party in the state.
Speaking with journalists in Uyo on Monday, FredFish, a chieftain of the PDP, assured that the party would recover from the crisis.
He said a rebuilding process had begun, driven by members who still believed in the ideals of the party.
FredFish explained that the future of the PDP depends on how it resolves internal conflicts and removes individuals he described as “members by association.”
Commenting on Governor Eno’s defection to the APC, FredFish admitted that the PDP was disappointed but had moved on from the incident.
“PDP is still existing and the people remaining in PDP are people of integrity, people that are committed to the party, who know how to rebuild, who can build the party to become what it used to be before the exit of certain persons,” he said.
“I see PDP becoming strong, I see a future in PDP in Akwa Ibom State if what is being planned to do is done properly,” he added.
He suggested that the Board of Trustees of the PDP should approach the courts to reclaim states where governors had defected to the APC, arguing that the Nigerian Constitution may not have envisaged such a scenario.
On the membership of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, FredFish called for his immediate expulsion from the party.
“I have said it before that they should expel Wike from the party with immediate effect. He is like a cankerworm, the type of worm that the Bible talks about that comes to your house with the purpose of killing, destroying and uprooting,” he said.
“Wike is not in PDP to build the party; he is not in PDP as a party man. He is in PDP to destroy, his agenda is well known. So, my own is why can’t he be expelled?
“He has called PDP all types of bad names in the world but why can’t he leave that terrible party is the question that I have asked the PDP leaders and the Board and I have said it several times that the party can’t grow, progress with someone like Nyesom Wike, so he should be expelled.”