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The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ajibola Basiru, has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to immediately resign his appointment and face his obsession with Rivers State politics.
Basiru insisted that the former Rivers governor has no business interfering in the affairs.
The APC secretary made the call in a statement signed on Monday, following what he described as a tirade by Wike against his person and office as APC National Secretary.
According to Basiru, Wike is not a member of the APC and therefore lacks the locus standi to dabble into the party’s internal affairs, particularly in Rivers State.
“My attention has been drawn to the tirade of the Minister of the FCT against my person and my office as the National Secretary of the APC,” Basiru said.
“This is as regards my position that all members of the NWC must accord any sitting Governor his due respect and that the Governors remain the leaders of the Party in their States. It is shocking that such an innocuous statement can elicit such uncouth responses from no less than a member of the Federal Executive Council.”
He expressed shock that what he described as an innocuous statement could provoke what he termed uncouth responses from a serving member of the Federal Executive Council.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our records indicate that Minister Nyesom Wike is not a member of our Party (APC) so he lacks the locus to dabble into the affairs our Party,” Basiru stated.
“As National Secretary of the APC, I am imbued with the responsibility to protect the interests of the Party and all its members and structures.”
Basiru dismissed claims that his comments on Rivers APC amounted to interference, stressing that his responsibilities are national in scope and not limited to his home state of Osun.
Reacting to Wike’s allegation that he and other APC leaders were scrambling for an alleged N600 billion “largesse” in Rivers State, Basiru described the claim as “cheap blackmail.”
“My background, track-record is that of unquestionable intergrity and I challenge him to prove his allegations or we may meet in court.”
The APC scribe also took exception to what he described as veiled threats from the FCT minister, warning that Wike was overplaying his political card.
“He is not God,” Basiru said. “My faith is in God and will not succumb to cheap threats such as the one from WIKE. I am one of the young Nigerians that confronted Military rule, fighting for democracy, when the likes of Wike were nowhere in sight.”
Basiru further stressed that Wike’s support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not automatically confer APC membership on him.
“Millions of non-APC Nigerians also support Mr. President and his own is no different,” he said, accusing Wike of attempting to import “the spirit of the PDP” into the APC and destabilise the party in Rivers State.
He insisted that it was improper for a minister in an APC-led government to be causing confusion within the party’s structures.
“My advice to Nyesom Wike is that he cannot be in the Federal Executive Council of an APC Government and be causing confusion within any organ or structure of the Party at any level, using the leverage of that same office. The honourable thing to do is to resign his appointment as Minister,” Basiru added.
