PDP: Ruben Abati demolishes Wike over comment on Obi, Jonathan

Arise Tv Anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati, has derided the Minister for Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, for saying that bringing former President Goodluck Jonathan and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party, back to the People's Democratic Party, PDP, will spell doom for the opposition political party in the 2027 presidential election.

Wike had warned the PDP to jettison the idea of fielding either Jonathan or Obi as it's presidential candidate, while also asking that the former Governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasiru El'Rufai should also not be allowed to come into the PDP.

But the veteran Journalist, Abati, in his Arise morning show on Tuesday rebuked Wike, saying that the FCT minister lacks the moral ground to speak "recklessly and unintelligently" about Peter Obi, Goodluck Jonathan, and El-Rufai.

Recall that Abati was a Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Jonathan.

Abati urged Wike to question his own character rather than attacking other political opponents, stating equivocally that Wike cannot determine the destiny of the PDP when, according to him, Wike was already in another political party.

Abati said: "Now he is saying that if Mr Peter Obi comes back to the PDP, the PDP will be destroyed, because Peter Obi doesn't have the character having condemned PDP as a rotten party to come back to the PDP.

"Wike is not in a position to talk about character. Okay, he is not the one to talk about character. In fact, if he talks about character, he should question his own character.

"I don't know why people have problems with basic intelligence and decorum. He goes on television, and he says, you know, 'Peter Obi doesn't have character. Peter Obi left PDP and went to Labor Party, now he's in ADC'. In fact, it is Wike himself that destroyed the party. 

"And he also says, 'President Jonathan should not come back, come and run on the platform of the PDP because he's a statesman and all of that'. He's not in a position to advise President Jonathan just as he has made it clear that nobody can advise him.

"Who is he to determine the destiny of the People's Democratic Party when he is already in another political party? I blame the media. The media gives him the platform to disparage other political opponents.

"Yesterday, he was talking about Peter Obi. He was talking about President Jonathan. He was talking about Nasir El-Rufai. What gives him that moral high ground to talk recklessly and unintelligently?

"Because the media, what is the media looking for? The media, they are the ones who go to interview him. They are the ones who collect money to put him on the air.

"If he's talking about the FCT, yes, fine. But if it's disparaging all the political opponents, the media has an obligation to give all the other persons that have been disparaged to have a right of reply. 

"So we should not create a situation whereby, for monetary reasons, the Nigerian media is sucking up to a minister of the Federal Republic, who, in my view, is overreaching himself."