Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Segun Sowunmi has ruled out the possibility that Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike’s hidden presidential ambitions are the cause of the crisis rocking the party.
He said although he could not speak authoritatively about Wike's 2027 presidential ambitions or anything else, he was confident that the FCT minister was not arrogant enough to hide his intentions.
Mr. Sowunmi, in an interview with Daily Post published on Friday, said that if Mr. Wike wanted to become president of Nigeria, he would not hesitate to say so and that his ambition was not hidden.
However, the former Ogun PDP gubernatorial candidate added that he has so far heard nothing about Wike’s interest in running for the presidency in 2027.
“I’m not his spokesperson and I’m not authorized to speak for him, but the truth is Wike is not a pompous personality. He’s so unpretentious that I think that’s part of the problem. I don’t think Wike would lay low if he wanted to run for president. That’s not him, at least. I have been in this party since he came here, we have looked at ourselves, we have benefited from many good positions within the party, he has I’m not made of exaggerated material that I can say that I want to do. I’m afraid to become president even though I don’t want to be, or I want to be president but I’m afraid to say it.
“At least, I haven’t heard anything to that effect regarding the 2027 circle. If he wants to be president, of course he’ll say so at some point. But certainly, something like that won’t make him We cannot do that because it would be uncharitable to condemn them,” Sounmi said.
He added that the origins of the current PDP crisis can be traced back to how the selection of the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections was conducted.
He noted that some people feel hurt as a result and are reacting based on those feelings.
“What I think is that everyone has their own reactions to what they think are hurtful or unjust violations of their rights. You may not like it if you have the ability to fight or react to a violation of someone’s rights, but it would be a bit of a stretch to say they have no rights when they hurt someone. , we can only be sure of our own actions, and we cannot predict the actions of the person we feel hurt.
“When you talk about this particular issue, you expect people to follow their own narrow prism, but that’s not the case. The truth is that 2023 has become complicated as a result of what we call the Delta Agreement. That is the Asaba Agreement, which was sponsored by the governors of the Southern Extracted Area,” said former Governor Okowa, who released a communiqué insisting that Nigeria’s president should move to the South in the next election.
“If you follow me or search on the internet, I said on TV that very day that in order for a political party to run, after all, the PDP should be forced into zoning that is not in their interest. I would have screamed and screamed if I didn’t,” and you have to do it where you have some advantage and numbers.
“And just to be clear, if it becomes mandatory to have a zone in the south, then all you have to do is say we will go to the south-east, because at that time, I will go to the south-west with Obasanjo; I said I went to South-South with Jonathan. Therefore, no one PDP. We shouldn’t pretend that we don’t know where our responsibility lies. And I’ve said unequivocally that as far as the Southern Presidency is concerned, our responsibility lies in the Southeast. However, people like to think they are smart, but at the end of the day, that leads to trouble,” Soeunmi argued.
