A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Bode George says the party is working on reconciling its members including a former governor of Rivers State Nyesom Wike.

Wike, now the minister of the FCT under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), fell out with the PDP hierarchy in the lead-up to the presidential election of last year.

He and a group called G-5 including then-governors, worked against the PDP in the presidential election, insisting the southern part of Nigeria ought to produce the party’s flagbearer.

While many have questioned Wike’s membership of the party with others calling for sanctions against him, Bode George says the PDP is working to settle its matters.

“There is a standing committee. They are going to add more members to do a post-mortem analysis,” he said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today when asked about Wike attending the party’s national executive council meeting even while serving under the APC.

“We don’t want to start firing because there are one or two people that are still thinking about the past. The party must move on.”

“It is an issue in the party. It should not be resolved in the marketplace,” the PDP chieftain said, insisting “We are going to settle our own matters like a family.”

Bode’s party was the runner-up in the 2023 presidential election, losing to the ruling APC. Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, was its flagbearer in that exercise and also in 2019.

Despite opposition to his candidacy especially from Wike’s camp after he clinched the ticket for last year’s election, there are speculations that Atiku may be the party’s flagbearer in 2027 when Nigerians go to the poll.

But Bode said “time would tell” if the former vice president will run again.

“It [PDP] is not a private enterprise,” he said on the show.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake has declared that reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration have started manifesting in the resurgence of the nation’s economy.

Speaking while playing host to a delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professionals Forum led by former Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, Alake asserted that Tinubu’s progressive leadership and courage in taking difficult decisions is turning the tide, putting the economy on a strong footing.

” The President has chosen to leave a legacy of taking difficult decisions that will herald enduring structures that will not only outlast the administration, but also make it impossible for successive administrations to deviate from. The society would have become used to a certain standard of service delivery at the end of the Tinubu administration that Nigerians will no more settle for anything less, “Alake affirmed.

According to the Minister, it has become evident that the temporary pains of reforms are beginning to ease, citing the resurgence of the naira and emerging stability in the forex market.

Speaking further, the Minister highlighted the administration’s efforts towards infrastructural renewal, citing the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, which he stated on completion will shorten travel time to the Cross-River state capital to two and half hours.


” On completion of that coastal road, the amount of tourism that will be generated along that axis is unimaginable. It will be one of the longest tourism coast town drive in Africa, not to talk of the ease of movement of goods and services; the economic impact of ports along the route, and it will finally link up to Sokoto – a project which has been in the pipeline for more than 30 years”, Alake asserted.


The Minister charged the forum as a repository of knowledge and diverse professionals within the APC to contribute their quota to the success of the administration, reiterating that the APC-led Federal Government is open to innovative ideas in its quest to deliver dividends of democracy to Nigerians through the Renewed Hope Agenda.

In his remarks, HE Yuguda congratulated the Minister on his appointment, commending his efforts to sanitise and attract global attention to the mining sector, emphasising that solid minerals remain the key to Nigeria’s economic prosperity.

The former governor urged Nigerians and the federal government to support Dr. Alake with all that is required to transform the mining sector, stressing that solid minerals have all it takes to overtake oil as the mainstay of the nation’s economy.

Throwing light on the mission of the APC professionals forum, Yuguda stated that the group is a foremost group of patriotic professionals in diverse fields committed to nation building. He assured the forum will lead enlightenment of the populace on government programmes and also advance suggestions, where necessary.

On the entourage of HE, Isa Yuguda were the former governor of Adamawa State and member of the Forum’s Board of Trustees (BOT), Barr. James Ngilare; former Deputy Governor of Anambra state and Vice-Chairman BOT, Dr. Nkem Okeke; Secretary, Akeem Akintayo amongst others.

…Calls For Use Of Technology To Tackle Banditry, Terrorism

The Ogun State Government on Thursday donated 25 operational vehicles and surveillance drones to the State Police Command, for effective policing of the state.

The State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, handed over the vehicles to the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, who was on a three-day working visit to the state.

At the handing over ceremony, held at the Arcade Ground, Governor’s Office, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, Abiodun, said the equipment and patrol vans would assist the Police in discharging their duties effectively.

The Police boss lauded Governor Abiodun for the kind assistance to the Police and informed him that he had given approval for the establishment of three additional area commands and Police stations and police stations

Egbetokun said he would not relent on his effort to put in place a professionally competent police force and change the policing narrative in the country for the better.

“We are going to create more police stations to match the development that is going on in Ogun state. We will establish more area commands, we are going to bring an additional mobile police squadron into the Ogun state.

“We must do everything to secure this state because Ogun State is very important to Nigeria.”

Speaking about the ongoing police reform, Egbetokun said, “I came in to put in place a professionally competent police force we intend to change the policing narrative in this country for the better.

“We need a police force that is service driven, that is rule of law compliance, that is people friendly. We need a police force that will be so well-positioned to respond appropriately and adequately to the dynamics of crimes in our society.

“We cannot achieve this without the support of state governments, we cannot achieve this without the support of the people of Nigeria. So I’m here today, not to ask you for your support because you have been giving that support but to plead that you don’t get tired of supporting the police in this state.”

Governor Abiodun while handing over the vans and drones to the IGP said the gesture was in line with the Federal government’s motive of zero tolerance for insecurity.

The governor promised to continue to support security agencies to win the war against crimes and criminalities in Nigeria

He applauded the innovative and transformational leadership style of Egbetokun, promising to continue to support Nigerian Police to enhance Community Policing so as to win the war against insecurity in Nigeria.