The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said the 16 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who left the Peoples Democratic Party are at liberty to do so, insisting that his camp will continue working with the lawmakers who have remained in the party.
Wike spoke on Friday in Abuja after inspecting the ongoing construction of an interchange bridge linking Maitama, Gishiri, Jahi and Gwarinpa.
Earlier in the day, 16 lawmakers, including Speaker Martins Amaewhule, announced their defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress during a plenary session of the Assembly.
Amaewhule attributed the move to what he described as deep divisions within the PDP, declaring that he had joined the APC and would “join hands with Mr President,” adding that the President “means well for the country.”
Responding to the development, Wike said the situation was “unfortunate,” while blaming the defection on the unresolved crisis within the PDP.
He said, “Well, it’s unfortunate. I have always said that everybody has the right to make a choice. The party is fully factionalised. And the requirement of the Constitution is that when a party is factionalised, they are allowed to leave the party.
“You will see that it’s not everybody who has left. I believe 16 or 17 of them have left out of 27. We still have a good number, about 10, and we will continue to work together. They never told me, but they have a right.”
Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, also reaffirmed his membership of the PDP while urging the party leadership to urgently address its internal problems.
“I’m still in the PDP. So those who have remained, we’ll continue to work together. And I have said to the party, put your house in order.
“Because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that will lose. And we still ask the party to work together to see how the remaining members will be a relevant opposition. But they chose not to. So for me, those who have left are free. But those who remain in the party, we will continue to work together,” he added.