“Wike’s Appointment Has Made PDP a Servant to APC” – Kenneth Okonkwo

Former Labour Party spokesperson Kenneth Okonkwo has criticized the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing its leaders of becoming subordinates to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Okonkwo argued that President Bola Tinubu’s appointment of Nyesom Wike as a minister has weakened the PDP’s influence as an opposition party.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television program, on Friday, February 7, 2025, Okonkwo said Wike’s ministerial position has effectively placed the PDP under his control, making its leadership answerable to him and, by extension, to the APC. He recalled that Wike, a former governor and prominent PDP member, accepted Tinubu’s appointment after working against his own party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 election.

“Look at what is going on in the PDP. Some members formed the G5 and openly worked against the party’s interest. Instead of addressing this, the PDP accommodated them. Now, those same individuals want to take over the party. When they succeed, the true PDP members will become servants to the servant because their leader is now a servant to the APC,” Okonkwo said.

Reacting to Atiku Abubakar’s recent claim that the APC is bribing opposition parties to weaken them ahead of the 2027 election, Okonkwo dismissed the statement as an indictment of the opposition rather than the ruling party. He argued that if opposition parties were not willing to be compromised, no amount of bribery would succeed.

“I will never blame the ruling party for what is happening in the opposition. Excuses and success do not go hand in hand. Atiku said the ruling party gave N50 million to opposition parties. That doesn’t shame the APC—it shames the opposition. If there’s no willing receiver, there’s no available giver. It is a legitimate political strategy for any party to weaken its opponents,” he said.

Okonkwo urged opposition parties to take responsibility for their failures instead of blaming the APC. He argued that by allowing themselves to be influenced, they have demonstrated incompetence and corruption.

“Opposition parties have not lived up to the expectations of Nigerians. They should take responsibility, reorganize, and reject any offers from the ruling party that seek to destabilize them. The fact that they are susceptible to such tactics only proves their weakness,” he added.