FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has challenged the Tanimu Turaki wing of the Peoples Democratic Party, betting that June 26 will settle which camp is genuine once the electoral commission decides who receives the access code to upload nomination forms.

Under the commission’s rules, recognized parties begin getting access codes from June 26. Speaking at the party’s NEC meeting, Wike said some people had collected forms from the wrong quarters and insisted that the authentic PDP operated from its registered office rather than, as he put it, a hotel.

The Turaki faction, for its part, warned its candidates against switching parties after winning tickets, saying anyone whose name went to the commission would first sign an undertaking to stay put. Its leader said no one would again carry the party’s mandate elsewhere unchallenged.

That wing confirmed former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate and handed Certificates of Return to 21 governorship nominees, with National Organizing Secretary Theophilus Dakas Shan saying Jonathan had personally purchased and signed his nomination papers.

Meanwhile, the Wike camp dismissed talk that the minister might be drifting towards the ruling party, characterizing his role in the Tinubu government as a political loan with no clause permitting a permanent move.