The PDP Convention That Birthed the Monster in Wike. To understand the bitterness between Wike and the PDP, you have to go back to May 2022, when the party held its presidential primary in Abuja. That was the convention many would later point to as the moment the monster in Wike was birthed. Wike arrived at the convention full of energy and confidence. He believed he had a genuine chance of becoming the PDP’s presidential candidate, and he had supporters behind him. At the convention, he declared that whoever emerged as the party’s candidate would receive his support. All the aspirants were given the opportunity to make their submissions and appeal to the delegates before voting began. Then came the turning point. Just before voting, Aminu Tambuwal, the then governor of Sokoto State, announced that he was stepping down from the presidential race in favour of Atiku Abubakar. But he did not merely withdraw and ask his own supporters to vote for Atiku. He went further, urging the delegates generally to vote for Atiku. That was where the controversy began. The other aspirants were not brought back to the podium to respond to Tambuwal’s intervention. Wike, who had already addressed the delegates and told them to support whoever emerged as the party’s candidate, was not given the same opportunity to return to the stage and make a fresh appeal for votes after the entire situation had changed. Tambuwal had effectively introduced a new political calculation at the very moment voting was about to begin, without the other candidates having an equivalent opportunity to respond. Wike himself later argued that allowing Tambuwal to speak a second time violated the convention’s procedures. Think about it. Wike could have returned to the podium and said, “Hold on! I am still in this race. Tambuwal has made his decision, but I am asking you to vote for me. Do not let anybody decide your choice for you.” He could have made his own final appeal to the delegates, reminding them of his record, his campaign and the reasons they should choose him. But that opportunity never came. Instead, the convention proceeded to voting, and Atiku emerged with 371 votes while Wike polled 237. From Wike’s perspective, this was not simply a case of losing an election. It was a case of being denied what he considered a fair opportunity to compete after the rules of engagement appeared to have changed at the last minute. And this is where the politics of the North enters the story. The contest had exposed the power of northern political alliances and the influence of influential party figures in determining the direction of the primary. Wike, a southern aspirant who had invested heavily in his campaign, was left to contend with a last minute alignment that favoured Atiku. Whether the party intended to disadvantage him or not, the outcome left him feeling that the political game had been played against him. The wound went deeper when the party leadership subsequently praised Tambuwal for his role in Atiku’s emergence. Wike publicly questioned the process and accused the national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, of manipulating the primary to prevent him from winning. Those were Wike’s allegations, but they reveal just how deeply he felt betrayed. That was how the PDP birthed the monster in Wike. He became one of the party’s most formidable internal opponents. The bitterness that followed was not confined to Tambuwal. It extended to Atiku, Ayu and other figures associated with the party’s leadership and the decisions surrounding the primary. The irony is striking. Wike had pledged to support the eventual winner, but the circumstances surrounding that winner’s emergence left him unwilling to accept the outcome quietly. The lesson is that political defeats can be accepted, but a defeat perceived as an act of betrayal can produce consequences far beyond the ballot. -General Snow