Since FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has already pledged to work for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu, his claim that his faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is “ready to” challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027 is dishonest. 

The reason is obvious. Serving under Tinubu’s APC while he controls the PDP leadership, courtesy of the Supreme Court ruling that recently sacked the Taminu Turaki-led faction, how does Wike plan for the PDP to mount a credible opposition against the APC?

This conflicting loyalty on Wike’s part is unsustainable. He cannot operate as a power broker within the PDP and as a sitting minister under the APC. His claim that the PDP is ready to play the opposition is hypocritical. The PDP members aligned with him know this. Except, of course, they are also working directly or indirectly for Tinubu’s re-election.

Wike, serving under the APC while claiming to remain a member of PDP, is destroying the PDP from the inside, making a caricature of opposition politics and weakening Nigeria’s democracy. As his politics continue to blur the lines between government and opposition, the PDP, under Wike’s influence, would lose the little credibility it has left in the eyes of Nigerians.

Nigeria’s political history is filled with examples of shifting alliances. However, even within that fluidity, it was never conceived that a politician would occupy two opposing positions at once. We’ve seen politicians negotiate across party lines and build coalitions, but none, until Wike, had claimed they could lead the charge against a government they’re actively serving under.

On one hand, Wike occupies one of the most visible and strategic positions in the Tinubu administration. On the other hand, he now controls the PDP, positioning himself and his allies as central to the party’s revival and its prospects in 2027. This posture is contradictory.

Unless Wike is naive, which he’s not, then he’s fully aware that Tinubu is using his presence in the APC government to weaken the PDP as an opposition, and that his appointment by Tinubu from the onset was to neutralise what should have easily been Nigeria’s leading opposition party, and to consolidate power ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Never in the history of democracy has it worked out well for an opposition seeking to present itself as a credible alternative to the ruling party to be led, even partially, by individuals whose political capital is tied to the success of the very administration they claim to challenge. This contradiction that Wike and company are creating within the PDP will erode the party’s remaining trust among an already sceptical voting population.

Wike’s claim that the PDP is “stable and united” under his shifting alliance with the APC is difficult to defend. He either thinks, like many politicians before him, that Nigerians are indifferent to his schemings. He may be right; however, that’s not to deny the growing awareness of the brand of politics Nigerians have come to associate with his type.

Nigerians have come to realise that the country’s political space is full of politicians desperate to keep their snouts perpetually in the public trough, and that they might be forever plagued by an opposition that would rather compromise than serve the people’s interests. For patriotic Nigerians, this should raise very serious concerns about the direction of our democracy.

As Nigeria prepares to enter the election campaign season, Wike must be forced to choose whether he wants to continue serving under the APC or genuinely repurpose the PDP into a credible opposition. If he thinks the PDP offers a better path for Nigeria, he must step down as APC minister and commit to that cause. However, what he cannot do, at least not credibly, is to sustain both positions at once.

Maduekwe is a communications professional. Write him: mrmaduekwe@gmail.com.