• We want Wike to leave party, says ex-presidential aide
• We will follow FCT minister’s directives, APC council official pledges

The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has suspended its caretaker committee Chairman, Dr Robinson Nname-Ewor, over what it described as actions detrimental to the unity and interests of the party.

The suspension followed an emergency meeting of the state caretaker committee held on Friday, January 3, 2026, where members accused Nname-Ewor of aligning with an expelled member of the party and making public statements that contradict the position of the PDP leadership in the state.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Secretary of the caretaker committee, Ogbam Ojima, who has now been appointed Acting Chairman, said Nname-Ewor had, by his conduct, “voluntarily resigned” from his position even before the formal decision to suspend him.

According to Ojimah, the committee resolved to distance itself from all statements and public utterances attributed to the former chairman, noting that such claims did not reflect the collective position of the PDP in Rivers State.

Ojimah said, “This is a resolution of the caretaker committee of the PDP of Rivers State. After our meeting today, January 3, 2026, we resolved to disassociate ourselves completely from the statements and public utterances credited to Nname-Ewor.”

The caretaker committee reiterated its loyalty to the faction of the party led by Dr Kabiru Turaki, whom it recognised as the National Chairman of the PDP, reaffirming that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, remains expelled from the party and therefore has no right to interfere in its affairs.

“It is noteworthy to re-emphasise and remind the general public that Wike has already been expelled from our party and, as such, has no right to interfere in the affairs of the PDP,” Ojimah stated, adding that any alignment with the former Rivers State governor was unacceptable to the party in the state.

MEANWHILE, a former Presidential Media Adviser, Umar Sani, has accused the FCT minister of deliberately destabilising the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Sani made it clear that PDP leaders want the ex-Rivers governor to leave the party. Speaking in an interview in ARISE News on Saturday, Sani elaborated on the growing rift between Wike and several PDP governors, the leadership tussle, and its implications for the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to Sani, the internal crisis in the PDP stems from resistance to Wike’s influence rather than personal animosity among its leaders.
Addressing Wike directly, Sani said the former Rivers State governor should leave the party if he believes it cannot survive without him.

“As far as we are concerned, we want him to leave. Let him go to the APC and see how we survive. We cannot harbour someone who is very destructive,” he said.

However, Sani added that reconciliation remains possible. “If he realises his mistakes and comes back saying, ‘Please accept me,’ of course, we will. It is the issue of the prodigal son.”

ALSO, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ahoada West Local Council of Rivers said the party would largely follow the directives of Wike ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The Chairman of APC in the area, Mr Rejoice Otobo, stated this during Wike’s “thank you” visit to the council yesterday. Otobo assured Wike that the people would not fail him because of the landmark achievements recorded in the council during his tenure as governor of the state.

“We await instructions from you on the 2027 elections. Wherever you ask us to go, there we shall go; whatever you ask us to do is what we will do,” the chairman said.

Similarly, his counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Ikechukwu Obuzor, who thanked Wike for his developmental strides in Ahoada, pledged complete loyalty to the minister.