The political tide in Rivers State shifted again on Friday, and Nyesom Wike — Minister of the FCT and former Rivers governor — stood calmly at its center, acknowledging the storm with the poise of a man who has seen many.
Sixteen members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule, abandoned the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress, citing deep fractures within the PDP. Their declaration, made during plenary, was framed as an act of survival: a move toward a President they say “means well for the country.”
Wike, speaking to journalists after inspecting the expanding interchange linking Maitama, Gishiri, Jahi, and Gwarimpa, called the mass defection “unfortunate,” yet unsurprising. The party, he said, had splintered long before Friday’s announcement.
“Everyone has a right to choose,” he noted, “and when a party is fully factionalised, the Constitution provides the door they have walked through.”
He emphasized that the exodus was not total — roughly ten lawmakers remain — and he vowed to continue working with those who stayed.
Despite the turbulence, Wike affirmed his own loyalty to the PDP, urging its leadership to confront the crisis rather than drift deeper into division.
“If the party refuses to put its house in order, the loss will be its own,” he warned, urging a renewed commitment to building a credible opposition.
For Wike, the defections were a symptom, not a surprise — a crack long ignored, now widening in full public view.
