Wike can’t back Tinubu and still remain in PDP — Publicity Secretary, Ememobong

The factional National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, Ini Ememobong, speaks with OLUFEMI ADEDIRAN on the party’s decision to expel the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the Tuesday clash at the party’s national secretariat

W hy exactly did the PDP expel the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and others?

The party has a robust internal management process which takes a long time because, when people are angry, you have to allow a cooling period. So, after the 2023 elections, the party believed that a cooling period was necessary to allow people who were angry to reconsider their views. But in 2025, the party realised that the cooling period had been abused as people were doubling down on some of their actions. So, the party had to make a decision, and there is no better time to make a decision on something bad than that moment.

Two federal high courts ordered the stoppage of the PDP national convention. Why did you go ahead with it despite the orders?

There are many court judgments, and all of them are of concurrent jurisdiction. There are two from the Federal High Courts, and there was a ruling from an Oyo State High Court. So, the party was at liberty to pick and choose the one to obey, and the party decided to respect the last judgment it got.

This speaks to the ills that politicising the judiciary would bring. Political matters—matters relating to the leadership and internal affairs of a political party—are clearly out of the jurisdiction of courts. Politicians must learn to negotiate and agree instead of always landing in the courtroom. That is the only way to increase or consolidate democratic norms and deepen democracy in any country.

If at every slight thing politicians head to the court, it means that the political party would do absolutely nothing because, on a day-to-day basis, interests would clash. So, if everyone whose interest clashes heads to the court, then the dockets of the court will be filled with political cases, as they already are now.

The court should be more interested in using the judicial system to stimulate the economy because today, even if I owe you $1bn and we go to court, it will take a long time for that process to finish, whereas that is what can stimulate the economy. But so much time is spent on political matters, and I think that we are also seeing the downside of it.

Is the absence of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission at the convention not a minus for you?

The Electoral Act says they (INEC) may show up with or without notice. We wouldn’t know whether they would show up or not, but we were not informed that they were coming, and no one walked up to us to identify himself or herself as an INEC official. But that doesn’t invalidate or exclude the fact that they may have chosen to come and observe from a distance. They must not necessarily alert you that they are coming, and they must not be conspicuous enough to be seen. Again, our primary duty was to give notice for INEC to attend, which INEC does not deny. It was their prerogative to determine whether they would come or not, because if you read the Electoral Act, you will see that their attendance is discretionary.

By the time we get to the court, the matters will be resolved, and there will be consequential orders. We are at the Court of Appeal now; we will see where that will end.

The Wike camp is insisting that the convention and its outcome are illegal. What is your take on this?

Well, democracy is about the majority having their way and the minority having their say. But people of that camp seem to think that the majority should only have their say while the minority should have their way. It is just a few people getting together to say that there was no convention.

What was responsible for the Tuesday violence at the PDP national secretariat?

We were about to have our inaugural National Working Committee meeting, only to see that people had purported to convene a Board of Trustees meeting and National Executive Council meeting. I saw on Facebook that the expelled former secretary of the party said they had invited the police to prevent intruders or to deal with intruders. By the time we got there, we were teargassed. We had in our company governors, members of the House of Representatives and party supporters, and all of us were teargassed. In that process, a lot of people were wounded because people were running to safety, and we were wondering why that was so.

By the time we got into the main hall, we saw that there were just a few people, some of whom were not even BOT members, who were pretending and wanted to act out a drama. Then the Minister of the FCT showed up with boys. But at the end of the day, the situation was under control. When the police said that we should leave, our governors agreed to leave, but the FCT minister refused. So, they said that if he didn’t leave, they wouldn’t. But the people do know that INEC has not recognised them, and they know that they have no basis under the law to have convened that meeting.

How would you react to the expulsion of Governor Seyi Makinde and others by the Wike camp?

It’s laughable. The issue is that NEC is not empowered to undertake discipline by our constitution. NEC only makes rules for discipline. So, assuming we even considered that it was a proper NEC, it would be complete nonsense. Now the question is, the chairman summons NEC, so who was the chairman at that point? INEC answered that for them. It is just like a kid’s thing. A kid says, you spank me, so the kid now uses his hand to also beat you and says, at least I beat you. It is just self-deceit taken too far.

How can unity be restored to the party?

Unity and peace will be restored if everyone has the same goal. If Wike is already saying that he supports President Bola Tinubu and that his candidate is not that of our party, and the constitution of our party says that the party would have candidates in all offices, how do we resolve that? It is like the case of a husband and wife where one decides that monogamy is what they want and the other decides on polygamy, but you want both of them to still stay married. How would you resolve it?

How does your exco plan to strengthen the party ahead of the 2027 elections?

The PDP must undertake surgery to exorcise the undesirable elements from within its fold. You can’t be boarding a vehicle with someone who is going in the opposite direction. Even if it is a shared ride, I’m not sure the driver would agree because if both of you are going to polar ends, then you can’t be in the same ride. But we are looking at reconciliation, ensuring transparency and equity in the party’s activities, returning power to the people and making sure that internal democracy is the spirit behind everything we do in the party.

How do you plan to prevent further defection of PDP members?

Defection is an indication of the state of mind of people. Away from the fact that we are losing morale, the definition of defection itself, or a defector, is inherently negative. So, how we now celebrate defectors and defection is something that shows the depravity that has taken over our psychological space, because it’s clearly just like celebrating a thief. People elect you with a particular mandate, and you cross over shamelessly, and people come and celebrate you. It is just a celebration of shame.

To address defection, what we think should happen is the conscious ideological entrenchment of what the party stands for in the minds of people. If people are aware of the differences between Party A and B, then they can’t be porting as if they are going to the markets.

Do you plan to collaborate with other political parties to unseat President Tinubu in 2027?

Yes, the task is to unseat the ruling party, and therefore, discussions and negotiations are most welcome in a bid to achieve that.
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