PDP crisis: Wike is not my leader — Oyinlola

Former Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has blamed the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party on some internal forces, which he said are not “sleeping.”

He further dissociated himself from the party’s leadership purportedly under the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Oyinlola stated this on Wednesday during his interview on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.

Oyinlola was a PDP member and Osun governor from 2003 to 2010. He succeeded Adebisi Akande — the state’s first democratically-elected governor.

When asked if Wike was his leader, Oyinlola said, “No, not my leader. You don’t say that kind of thing,” he maintained, stressing, “Yes, I am a member of the PDP, but he’s not my leader.”

Oyinlola, a retired general, asserted that the FCT minister “qualifies” to be his ‘boy’ rather than his leader.

He stated that Wike was in school when he (Oyinlola) served as the military governor of Lagos State from 1993 to 1996.

Asked if Wike was his boy, Oyinlola said, “He qualifies to be. When I was governor in Lagos, where was he? In school.

“If we cannot go forward positively, smoothly, then you go and sit at home at 76. When I joined politics, I said whatever I did not achieve when I become 65, that I will go and rest.”

Asked if he was part of the “rainbow in Osun State,” he stated that “nobody has invited me to any rainbow. I don’t know the meaning of rainbow except the one I see.” 

The Rainbow coalition is a structure led by Wike to support President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

Despite being a PDP member, Wike was appointed to serve under the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress administration. Hence, the coalition has drawn lots of criticisms from PDP members who alleged that the structure was working against the party and its success at the 2027 presidential poll.

One of the prominent members of the PDP is former President Olusegun Obasanjo. However, Oyinlola noted that the ex-Nigerian leader has “tried his best” to resuscitate the party’s structure, but such efforts are faced by some internal forces.

Asked if he had discussed with Obasanjo about the party’s state, Oyinlola noted, “We discuss. He’s been trying to ensure that the party is re-engineered. But those who don’t want it are working against it within the party. That’s the much I can say.

“He has tried his best, let me say. But there are too many forces working against the unity of the party,” adding that the PDP “is not dead. The bone will rise again.”

The former governor further claimed that the PDP “has its tentacles up to every one of the 774 local governments. You just need to whip it up, and we get going.

“If we get our acts together, it’s a thing we can achieve, but the forces making sure we don’t get there are there. They are not sleeping.”

In an interview in August 2026, Oyinlola stated that he opted to support the APC
candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, in the state’s governorship election, over eventual winner and incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke — a former PDP member.

Oyinlola said his decision was based on the “turbulence” that had hit the PDP at the national level.