The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has taken a fresh swipe at Imo State Governor and Chairman of the APC Governors Forum, Hope Uzodinma, telling him he should be grateful that he is not a member of the All Progressives Congress.
Wike made the remark while reacting to the decision of APC governors to reject his Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The former Rivers State governor spoke during an interview on Arise TV after Uzodinma announced that APC governors would not support any political alliance capable of weakening the party, its candidates or President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
“I said I will support the President from day one. I never told Mr. President I will join APC. Go and ask him. If I want to join APC, it’s not people like Hope who will tell me to join APC,” Wike said.
“In fact, he is lucky I’m not in APC because I wouldn’t take that kind of rubbish he is doing in APC.”
The latest exchange is part of a growing disagreement between Wike and some APC governors over the Rainbow Coalition, which the FCT minister has been promoting as a platform for mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
Wike has maintained that his support for Tinubu does not amount to joining the APC or preventing other political parties from fielding candidates in governorship and legislative elections.
He has also rejected suggestions that the coalition was created to work against the APC, saying its focus is the presidential election. In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Wike said the coalition was designed to bring together people from different political parties who support Tinubu.
“Most importantly, Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is our own way of mobilising support across political parties for Mr President, who has done well to deserve a second term,” Wike said.
Wike argued that supporting Tinubu for president should not automatically mean supporting APC candidates in all other elections.
He cited governors from different political parties who have expressed support for Tinubu, asking whether such support would stop their parties from presenting candidates for the National Assembly.
“Now what is the crisis of sponsoring candidates? Soludo is supporting President Tinubu, does it mean he won’t support APGA candidates for the National Assembly elections?” Wike asked.
“Governor Adeleke is supporting the president. Does it mean he won’t support Accord National Assembly candidates? Alex Otti is supporting President Tinubu from what he said. Does it mean the Labour Party won’t have National Assembly candidates?”
Wike also challenged the argument by APC governors that his political activities could undermine Tinubu’s chances in 2027.
He referred to the 2023 elections in Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states, where voters supported different parties in the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“In Imo State, under Governor Hope Uzodinma, how did APC win two Senate seats in 2023, in an election held the same day with that of the President, and APC had less than 15 per cent in the presidential election? Was it Rainbow Coalition? Were the voters confused?” Wike asked.
“Was it Rainbow Coalition that also made APC win National Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu States where the President did not have ten per cent of the votes?”
He argued that the 2023 results showed that voters could support one party in the presidential election and another party in legislative contests held on the same day.
“If in 2023, the voters in Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi voted APC in the senatorial election and voted another party in the presidential election, they won’t be confused in 2027 provided we all support the President genuinely this time?” he said.
The minister also said his disagreement with some APC governors did not begin with the Rainbow Coalition. According to him, some governors had been unhappy with his appointment as FCT minister by Tinubu.
“All these things you are seeing didn’t start today, it started with the ministerial position. They are not happy, APC Governors, that I was given the Minister of FCT,” Wike said.
He further accused some APC governors of misleading Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara during the political crisis that previously rocked the state.
“During the crisis with my Governor, Fubara, they misled my governor. They couldn’t give the governor a second term,” he said.
The comments came after the APC Governors Forum held a closed-door meeting in Abuja and announced its opposition to political arrangements that could create competing structures ahead of the 2027 elections.
Uzodinma, who chaired the meeting, said the governors would remain committed to APC candidates at all levels and would not support arrangements that could undermine the party or Tinubu’s re-election bid.
“The APC Governors Forum unanimously resolved that its members will not participate in, support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the re-election of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels,” Uzodinma said.
The Imo governor added that the forum had no intention of supporting candidates outside the APC.
“In other words, the forum has no intention to support any candidate at any level that is not an APC candidate because our candidates who are contesting the election are being sponsored by our party,” Uzodinma said.
He further stated that the governors’ campaign structure would be focused exclusively on APC candidates and aligned with Tinubu’s re-election campaign.
“The governors’ campaign commitment is exclusively to all APC candidates. All levels of the party campaign architecture will align with the expectations of Mr President and the strategic objectives of the party,” he said.
Wike, however, has insisted that he did not promise the APC governors that the PDP or other political parties would abandon their candidates in the 2027 elections.
“What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the reelection of the President. I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates to contest governorship, National Assembly and States House of Assembly elections,” he said.
