Wike not my leader in PDP… he’s my boy – Oyinlola

Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former governor of Osun, says Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is not his leader in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking on Wednesday in an interview with Channels Television, Oyinlola said although he remains a member of the PDP, he does not recognise Wike as his political leader.

“Yes, I am a member of the PDP, but he’s not my leader. Wike is not my leader,” he said.

The ex-governor said he was never invited to join Wike’s “rainbow coalition”.

“No, nobody has invited me to any rainbow. I don’t know the meaning of rainbow, except the one I see in the sky,” he said.

“He (Wike) qualifies to be my boy.

“When I was governor in Lagos, where was he? In school. Ti apa ko ba se san mo n eyan o ka lori, if we cannot go forward positively, smoothly, then we go and sit at home.

“At 76? When I joined politics, I said whatever I did not achieve, when I become 65, I will go and rest.”

On the efforts made by Olusegun Obasanjo to make the party viable, Oyinlola said although the ex-president has been trying to reposition the PDP, some party members were working against the move.

“We discussed, Olusegun Obasanjo has been trying to ensure that the party is re-engineered. But those who don’t want it are working against it within the party,” he said.

“He has tried his best, let me say. There are too many forces working against the unity of the party.”

Oyinlola added that the PDP is not dead, noting that the party still has a presence across the 774 LGAs in the country.

“PDP is not dead. Like they used to sing in Igbo, it says, ‘Ogugugu kande adi oso, the bone will rise again’,” he said.

“The PDP is a party that has its tentacles up to every of the 774 local governments. The tentacle is very much alive. We just need to whip it up and we get going.”

The PDP has been mired in crisis and factionalised since 2023. Wike leads one of the factions.

In July, the federal high court in Abuja dismissed a suit seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Kabiru Turaki-led interim national working committee (NWC) of the PDP.

On November 4, 2026, the court of appeal dismissed an appeal seeking to compel INEC to recognise the Turaki-led interim NWC. (TheCable)