The crisis of confidence and the battle for the control of the PDP both nationally and in Rivers State is gaining momentum and the 18th of April is the date fixed at the Wadata Plaza battleground being the date the PDP NWC had scheduled to hold its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting which promises to make or mar the party’s future. Except coordinated control is Deployed, the April 18th NEC may be ambushed legally. Events leading to such coordinated attacks have begun to manifest in many folds.

At a recent public event in Port Harcourt, the Gov of Rivers state Siminilaye Fubara comforted party faithful that the list of party caretaker committee members that emanated from the party is fake and should be discountenanced and that anyone caught parading himself as an EXCO on that fake list will be dealt with mercilessly. Faced with this existential threat Wike in swift action had already gotten Amb Damagun to Authenticate His List of Excos For Rivers as a matter of finality. The stage is therefore set for a tripartite clash between Wike, Fubara, and Damagun at the NEC meeting.

There are discordant tunes emanating within the Aso Rock Presidential Villa of the gradual loss of relevance of Wike within the PDP and the likelihood of him losing effective control of the Party to Atiku Abubakar. Should that be the case his significance to Tinubu’s 2027 aspiration will have paled into insignificance making him less relevant in the scheme of things.

As a strategic move to bolster his political confidence and prove relevance, Wike is selling a new narrative that the battle for the soul of the party is between himself and Atiku Abubakar. To shore up his credibility, significance, and relevance, Wike characteristically decided to stir the hornet's nest.

At a recent media parley with some media executives in Abuja Wike had lambasted Rivers state PDP elders as expired politicians and with a speed of lightning Uche Secondus, Austin Opara, and Celestine Omehia all responded by referring to him as a chronic, self-serving, and pathological liar in their separate press statements. He had claimed in that media chat that Secondus was not a member of the party by the court of appeal and Supreme Court judgment recently delivered. He promised to take up the matter soon.

Perhaps that explains why one Titus Jones filed a lawsuit in the federal high court before Justice I E Ekwo seeking to restrain Uche Secondus and Austin Opara from attending and or participating in the April 18th NEC meeting. Why was this suit necessary since a judgment according to Wike had barred Secondus from being a member of the PDP? The truth of the matter is there is no such judgment and Wike is scared that the presence of Uche Secondus and Austin Opara will add value and assist the governor in overwhelming him at the meeting. As the clock continues to tick towards the NEC meeting the outcome could rather be conceived rather than imagined.