The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has launched a blistering attack on Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, describing the touted alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) as nothing short of advance fee fraud, popularly known as “419.”
Speaking to journalists on Thursday during an inspection of road projects in the Gomani-Yangoji area of the Kwali Area Council in Abuja, Wike dismissed the purported coalition as a fraudulent narrative engineered solely to serve Makinde’s personal political ambitions ahead of the 2027 elections.
Wike insisted that neither the PDP as a party nor the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had any formal knowledge or record of such an agreement.
“There is no alliance between the PDP and the Allied Peoples Movement or any other political party,” Wike stated emphatically. “INEC also knows that there is nothing called a PDP-APM alliance. When I say people are fraudulent, they think I am joking. And that is the 419 we are talking about.”
The FCT minister argued that recent internal party activities, including the ongoing screening of presidential aspirants, prove that the PDP remains fully independent and has entered no coalition arrangement. He challenged those spreading the alliance narrative to wait and see whom the PDP would officially submit to INEC as its presidential candidate.
Turning his focus squarely on Makinde, Wike alleged that the Oyo governor is merely exploiting the APM platform as a vehicle for a presidential aspiration that he described as stillborn.
“What you have is Seyi Makinde joining APM to be able to actualise his presidential ambition, which is already dead on arrival,” Wike declared. He added that the Oyo governor “cannot fly the flag of the PDP,” suggesting that Makinde’s path to any presidential ticket within the main opposition party is effectively blocked.
Wike was careful to distinguish Makinde’s position from that of other PDP governors, noting that Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed had never made any such claim about a party alliance. According to Wike, the entire PDP-APM narrative exists only in political imagination.
When asked about comments from Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara regarding Wike’s continued membership in the All Progressives Congress (APC), the FCT minister appeared unfazed. He dismissed suggestions of any internal crisis within the ruling party concerning his position.
“Sorry for what? Why are you saying ‘problem’ when nobody has told you he has a problem? The man has told you he still remains APC. So what is the problem now?” Wike queried.
He added that whatever standing the Rivers governor has within the APC is strictly an internal party affair, saying, “Ask me about PDP; I will answer you. Because how will you ask me what happens? Assuming he has a problem, it’s their internal affairs.”
Earlier during the project inspection, Wike expressed satisfaction with progress on the 13-kilometre Gomani-Yangoji road, which he said would be inaugurated during activities marking President Bola Tinubu’s third anniversary in office in June.
The minister noted that the road project aligns with the administration’s deliberate policy, under the Renewed Hope Agenda, to extend infrastructure beyond Abuja’s city centre into satellite communities.
“Remember that when we came on board, one of the directives of Mr President was that we should not concentrate development; we should not concentrate provision of infrastructure just only in the cities. We must open up all the satellite towns in order to discourage rural-urban migration,” Wike said.
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