Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has been given a 48-hour ultimatum by the youth wing of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the main socio-political organization for the South-South, to take back his recent statements disparaging the Ijaw nation and PANDEF leaders.
Wike’s remarks infuriated the youth organization, which said that it was intolerable for him to disparage the late Chief Edwin Clark, a recognized South-South leader and former Federal Commissioner for Information, even in his final days.
Doben Donyegha, the National Youth President of PANDEF’s youth branch, denounced Wike’s remarks in a Saturday interview with reporters.
The minister’s attack on the South-South leaders less than 24 hours after their group met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, he said, was especially hurtful.
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Recall that Wike labeled PANDEF “the worst organization anybody can rely on” and called its board of trustees “political merchants” in a media talk on Thursday.
Donyegha responded by urging President Tinubu to dismiss Wike from his cabinet right away, claiming that the youth wing had lost faith in him.
He cautioned that Wike’s continuing participation in the administration might badly influence the president’s re-election prospects in the Niger Delta in 2027.
The Code of Conduct Bureau should look into Wike’s alleged land-grabbing actions in the Federal Capital Territory, the PANDEF youth leader further suggested.
