2027: Obi’s return to PDP will destroy the party – Wike Warns

…Says move is hypocritical, dangerous to party’s credibility

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesom Wike, has dismissed ongoing talks about the possible return of former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), warning that such a move would ruin the party.

Some PDP leaders, including the Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, and the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro, have openly confirmed that the party is making moves to woo Obi back ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Mr Obi, who contested the 2023 election on the platform of the Labour Party, has repeatedly maintained that he would serve for only one term if elected president, insisting that four years would be sufficient to reposition Nigeria.

But speaking during a media chat on Monday, Mr Wike declared that the return of Obi would be both “dangerous and hypocritical,” stressing that such a move would amount to the destruction of the party’s already fragile structure.

“To what? Bringing Obi to where? You want to kill the party? Obi that was abusing the party, saying it is rotten — so the party is now good enough for him? Ambition can make people even go to Satan’s house,” Mr Wike said.

The former Rivers State Governor maintained that the PDP would lose whatever credibility it had left if it bowed to pressure to bring Obi back into its fold.

“If you want to destroy this party, dare it bring Obi. There’s no way he will come back just because of ambition. No more ideology, no longer principle,” he added.

Mr Wike insisted that the PDP must protect its ideological foundation rather than sacrifice its integrity for political calculations ahead of 2027.