The much-anticipated National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), slated for February 29, looks doubtful after moves to settle party bigwigs’ irreconcilable differences deadlocked.
The meeting, which is set aside to broker peace given the long list of contentious issues within the party, looks shaky as party top shots continue their name-calling and campaigns of calumny against one another.
Presently worrisome is the ongoing war of words between the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.
Both leaders have been engaged in a war of words over the fate of the party. While reacting to Wike’s criticism of his opposition to President Bola Tinubu’s Tax Reform Bills, the Bauchi State governor described Wike as a liability to the party. In a statement by Mukhtar Gidado, his media adviser, Mohammed said Wike is a “transactional politician” and a “liability” in the Tinubu administration.
“His recent media outburst was yet another reminder of his transactional approach to politics, where personal ambition eclipses loyalty, principles, and collective interests,” Mohammed added.
Wike, on his part, fired back, urging the governor to stop giving excuses for his “lack of capacity to provide leadership as chairman of the party’s Governors’ Forum.”
He said: “It is funny that a known fairweather politician like Bala Mohammed was the one calling someone else a transactional politician.”
Wike hinted that Governor Bala Mohammed is holding the position of Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum out of political greed, stressing that the position should be held by one of the PDP Governors in the South by convention and practice.
The FCT Minister added that Bala’s position goes against the law and tenets of the party on the grounds that the immediate past Chairman of the Forum was from the North, the same as the PDP National Chairman.
“Also, nothing has been heard about the Olagunsoye Oyinlola-led National Reconciliation Committee after it last held a meeting with the party’s NWC on October 23, 2024.
“The body was saddled with the responsibility of reconciling feuding party leaders, members, and groups. No time frame was announced, but many expected progress to be made before the NEC meeting,” Wike said.
