Daud Olatunji
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has drawn a clear line between his support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid and the electoral ambitions of All Progressives Congress governors and other APC candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Wike said his commitment was to mobilise support for Tinubu’s second-term bid and did not amount to an undertaking to campaign for APC candidates contesting governorship, National Assembly or State Houses of Assembly elections.
The former Rivers State governor made the clarification on Tuesday through a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, in response to the position of APC governors on his proposed “rainbow coalition.”
The Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, had on Monday said APC governors would not support or endorse any presidential candidate outside the ruling party in 2027.
Uzodimma also said the governors had rejected any political arrangement capable of weakening the APC or undermining Tinubu’s re-election.
The Imo governor maintained that the APC would not tolerate arrangements that could create “confusion, divided loyalty, or competing interests” within the party.
But Wike, who was one of the prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party’s G5 governors that backed Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, said his support for the President should not be interpreted as support for every APC candidate.
“What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the re-election of the President. I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates to contest governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections,” he said.
The FCT minister further insisted that the proposed rainbow coalition was not an APC arrangement but a platform intended to mobilise politicians across party lines behind Tinubu.
“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.
He also rejected the suggestion that his 2023 support for Tinubu was based on an agreement with the APC.
According to him, he and other members of the G5 did not negotiate with the APC before supporting Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Wike said he would adopt the same approach in 2027, stressing that his support for Tinubu would not automatically translate into backing for APC candidates in state and legislative elections.
“I can’t help you win in your states,” the minister said, stressing that politicians facing electoral challenges in their respective states should resolve them locally.
“Politics is local, and those having problems in their states should resolve them instead of using the re-election of the President to whip up sentiments,” he added.
Wike argued that the 2023 elections had already demonstrated that Nigerian voters could vote for different political parties in presidential and legislative elections conducted on the same day.
He cited Imo State, where the APC won two senatorial seats despite Tinubu securing less than 15 per cent of the presidential votes in the state.
“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?” he asked.
Wike also pointed to Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states, where the APC won National Assembly seats despite Tinubu recording relatively low presidential votes in some of the states.
“Was it a rainbow coalition that also made the APC win National Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu where the President did not have 10 per cent of the votes?” he asked.
The minister said the same voting pattern could emerge in 2027, with voters supporting Tinubu for president while choosing candidates from other parties in governorship and legislative elections.
He urged political stakeholders to separate the presidential contest from local political battles, arguing that the immediate priority should be securing Tinubu’s re-election.
“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.
“After the President must have been re-elected, we can all go and face elections in our states.”
Wike also argued that electoral victory should be based on genuine grassroots mobilisation rather than political calculations or elite alliances.
He said the political process should focus on securing votes at polling units rather than relying on alliances or political manoeuvring to produce unexpected electoral outcomes.
“The Minister said politics is no longer about coming from fourth position to be governor; it is about genuinely mobilising support and winning elections from the polling units,” the statement added.
The latest exchange has exposed a potential fault line between Wike’s cross-party mobilisation for Tinubu and the APC governors’ insistence that support for the President should not undermine the electoral interests of the ruling party and its candidates at other levels.
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