Wike frustrated Peter Obi out of PDP  —  Dele Momodu; It’s not true — Wike

By KEMI KASUMU

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dele Momodu, has accused the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, of frustrating Peter Obi out of the PDP.

During the build-up to the 2023 general election, Obi dumped the PDP for the Labour Party (LP), where he emerged as the party’s presidential candidate.

Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, Momodu said Wike was the reason Obi left the PDP.

He explained that ahead of the 2023 election, Atiku wanted the PDP to cede power to the Southeast rather than rotating it within a few regions.

The publisher implied that Wike could have benefited from Atiku’s suggestion if he had not dissociated himself from the Southeast region.

According to Momodu, Wike disqualified himself by saying he was not an Igbo man. He added that the former Governor of Rivers State declared that he was not interested in any Igbo agenda.

Since the PDP was considering zoning its presidential ticket to the Southeast, Momodu alleged that Wike subsequently frustrated Obi out of the party to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate.

Momodu said, “It was the same Wike people complaining about north-south that brought the committee through our party primary open. That’s why I was able to buy a form. I bought a form because, at that time, Atiku had told them that if they ceded power to the southeast, then it would make sense to him, but if it would still be a rotation between just a few zones, he would not support it. He wanted them to cede power to the southeast. But because Wike had already disqualified himself by saying he’s not an Igbo man, he said he’s from south-south, he’s not interested in Igbo anything, so he succeeded in frustrating Peter Obi out of the party. So, the coast was clear for Nyesom Wike.”

The PDP chieftain further explained that the opposition party did not have a zoning problem until Wike and his allies within the party started using it to push a north-south agenda for the party’s presidential ticket.

Reacting to the claims by Dele Momodu, Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, accused the Ovation Magazine publisher, Dele Momodu, of supporting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for financial reasons.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Olayinka described Momodu as a “fairweather friend” who is only loyal to Atiku because of financial benefits, alleging that the media entrepreneur would quickly abandon the former vice president if the monetary flow ceased.

“We are hearing all this noise from him because Atiku is paying his bills. Let Atiku stop paying, Oga Dele Momodu will move to the next victim,” Olayinka said.

Reacting to Momodu’s recent claim that Wike was responsible for Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi’s exit from the Peoples Democratic Party, Olayinka dismissed the assertion, calling it baseless.

“Only someone like Dele Momodu, who does not have knowledge of anything apart from his stomach, would claim that it was Wike that drove Peter Obi out of the PDP,” he said.

Olayinka further accused Atiku of being a divisive figure within the PDP, alleging that the former vice president had sabotaged the party’s efforts since 2003, including its unsuccessful bid to win Lagos State.

“Atiku has been the weapon fashioned against the PDP since he frustrated the party’s efforts to win Lagos State in 2003,” he said.

He also questioned Atiku’s sincerity regarding his call for a South-East presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 elections, noting that Atiku had obtained the PDP’s presidential Expression of Interest form before the zoning committee concluded its work.

“Dele Momodu claimed Atiku wanted the PDP to field a candidate from the South-East, but conveniently ignored the fact that Atiku had already declared his interest,” he said.

Olayinka cited the exit of key PDP stakeholders—including former campaign DG Senator Gbenga Daniel and Atiku’s 2023 running mate Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa—as evidence of internal dissatisfaction with Atiku’s leadership.

“Was it Wike that made Senator Gbenga Daniel, who was the Director General of Atiku’s 2019 campaign, leave PDP barely two weeks after the election? Was it Wike that made Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa leave the PDP?” he queried.

He added that former Akwa Ibom Governor, Udom Emmanuel, who chaired Atiku’s 2023 campaign, and his successor Governor Umo Eno, were also distancing themselves from the party.

“The question is, why did everyone who worked closely with Atiku during the 2019 and 2023 elections leave him afterwards? The reason can only be because someone is a selfish person who is only about himself alone,” he added.

Efforts to reach Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, and Dele Momodu for comments were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.

Momodu’s line was switched off, while calls to Ibe rang out without response. Messages sent to both parties had not been returned.

But when Lere Olayinka, Wike’s spokesman was asked by Arise Television’s The Morning Show crew, on Thursday, to provide evidence Dele Momodu is on payroll of Atiku Abubakar, he pushed an intention to digress attacking the personalities of not only Momodu saying he is a journalist because he studied Yoruba and has only been in the business of photo book publishing but also that Rufai Oseni “cannot face be and call yourself a journalist because” he studied animal science.

Having schooled him to know that journalism is a broad knowledge base discipline that has studies more than just mass communication, Lere Olayinka was dragged back to the basic point for which he was brought on set to produce evidence of bank transfers from Atiku to Momodu to show e is correct that the former Concord journalist is on the payroll of the former Vice president but Lere Olayinka effectively failed to provide one.