Wike Is a Disaster, Ortom a Betrayer – I Won’t Sit With Them in PDP – Lamido

A member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has reiterated his decision to boycott all party activities as long as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, remain members of the party. Lamido was conspicuously absent at the 99th NEC meeting held on Tuesday at the Legacy House in Abuja, making good on his earlier stance.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs also criticized the continued recognition of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the PDP, despite his reported rejection by the Zonal Executive Committee. Although Wike and Anyanwu did not attend the NEC meeting, Ortom was present, arriving at the venue in a white kaftan and Tiv traditional cap alongside Bauchi Governor and PDP Governors Forum Chairman, Bala Mohammed.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja, Lamido, who also serves on the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), called for the immediate expulsion of Wike and Ortom over what he described as anti-party conduct during the 2023 general elections. He accused Wike of betraying the party that had elevated his political career, stating that the FCT Minister’s actions were harmful to the unity and traditions of the PDP.

“Here is someone who was honoured by the PDP, brought into relevance by the PDP, and now turns around to fight the very party that made him. Wike is, quite frankly, a disaster. What he has done is un-African and un-Nigerian,” Lamido said. He condemned Wike’s sealing of the PDP secretariat in Abuja and questioned the rationale behind justifying such actions on the grounds of personal ambition or financial contributions to the party.

Lamido praised President Bola Tinubu for ordering the reopening of the secretariat, suggesting that the President had to step in where the PDP leadership failed to assert authority. “The very man Wike is trying to please by destroying his own political family is the one saying, ‘No, you can’t do that,’” he said.

He also expressed strong disapproval of Ortom’s continued role in the BoT, citing his endorsement of Labour Party candidate Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election as a betrayal of the PDP. “I will not attend any PDP meeting unless Wike is expelled and people like Ortom are removed from the BoT. I remain a PDP member, but I will not participate in party functions or answer calls to meetings while these individuals remain in leadership,” Lamido stated.

Lamido questioned how the PDP could chart its future while tolerating the presence of individuals he described as impostors and traitors. He referenced his role in the expulsion of the late Arthur Nzeribe from the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the Babangida-era Option A4 political system, stressing the need for discipline and party supremacy.

He lamented the decline of internal discipline within the PDP, contrasting it with an earlier era when party authority was sacrosanct and no one, regardless of influence, was above the rules. “Today, people openly working against the PDP are still being tolerated. Someone like Wike, who claims to love the PDP but is clearly undermining it, should be expelled by the NWC. Why hasn’t that happened?” he asked.