BREAKING: I Had a Major Threat as a Governor, That Would’ve Made Me to Join APC to Save My Head; I Didn’t-Wike

During a media chat with journalists in Abuja on Friday, October 24, 2025, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike spoke extensively on the protracted crises facing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), contrasting its current internal struggles with the external pressures the party survived during the previous administration.

Wike recalled that the government under late former President Buhari made concerted attempts to dismantle the PDP, citing the alleged use of figures like Ali Modu Sheriff to orchestrate its collapse.

Despite facing what he described as intense governmental opposition, which he felt was unprecedented for a sitting governor, he asserted that he stood firm and never contemplated joining the ruling All Progressives Congress to save his position or political standing.

Wike said, “When Buhari was in power, there was nothing the government didn’t do then to scatter the PDP. In fact, Ali Modu Sheriff was been used to scatter the PDP then but we stood firm and ensured the PDP remained strong. Now there is no attempt by any government, you are on your own destroying the party. I had a major threat as a governor, that would have made me to join APC to save my head; I didn’t. There was no governor that was fought the way the government fought me at that time.”

The Minister’s remarks arrive amidst wave of defections of governors from the PDP to the APC, a development that has severely weakened the opposition.

Since the conclusion of the last general elections, the ruling party has gained several state chief executives, with prominent defections from the South-South and South-East regions, including recent moves by the governors of Enugu and Bayelsa states.

These departures have fueled allegations from the opposition that the APC-led Federal Government is employing coercion, intimidation, and the threat of anti-graft investigations to pressure PDP governors and other political stakeholders into switching allegiance.

While the APC has consistently dismissed these claims, insisting that the defections are driven by the governors’ loss of faith in their former party and their belief in the current national leadership, the exodus has significantly intensified the debate over the health of opposition politics and the prospect of a dominant one-party system in the country.

Wike suggested that the present crisis is self-inflicted, noting that the party is now responsible for its own decline without any external governmental interference.