By A rivalry brewing between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and governors of the All Progressives Congress has burst into the open, with sources warning that the infighting, driven as much by 2031 presidential ambitions as by the 2027 election, could complicate President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid if left unresolved.
At the centre of the clash is Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a platform he has been building in Rivers State to rally support behind Tinubu’s 2027 re-election. Late Monday night, Imo State Governor and Chairman of the APC’s Progressive Governors’ Forum, Hope Uzodimma, took what appeared to be a veiled swipe at Wike, declaring that ruling party governors would not back any alliance capable of undermining Tinubu’s re-election or weakening the APC.
Reading the communique after the governors’ meeting in Abuja, Uzodimma said the forum’s loyalty rests exclusively with APC candidates at every level. “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,” he said. “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.”
Wike pushed back firmly, insisting the coalition exists to support Tinubu specifically, not the APC as a whole, and that his backing of the President does not extend to endorsing APC candidates in every state. Through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Wike reaffirmed his commitment to Tinubu’s re-election while clarifying that he never promised the PDP would sit out governorship, National Assembly or state assembly races.
“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,” Wike said, adding that the Rainbow Coalition “has nothing to do with the APC,” but is instead a cross-party mobilisation effort built around Tinubu’s record.
Wike Fires Back at Governors
Speaking on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Tuesday night, Wike dismissed the governors’ concerns outright, accusing them of deflecting from their own local troubles. “They (APC governors) are politically lazy. When you have your local problems, don’t use Mr President as your excuse,” he said.
He argued that supporting Tinubu’s re-election has nothing to do with his party affiliation, pointing to Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo, Osun Governor Ademola Adeleke and Abia Governor Alex Otti as examples of politicians whose backing for a presidential candidate doesn’t stop their own parties from fielding other candidates. “Take Soludo, Adeleke and Otti. Does it mean that their parties will not present other candidates? This thing they are saying does not have any basis,” he said.
Wike also used historical results to make his case, asking how APC won two Senate seats in Imo under Uzodimma in 2023 despite the party polling under 15 percent in the presidential race there, or how APC took National Assembly seats in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu where Tinubu didn’t crack 10% of the vote. “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 asked.
He took a direct shot at Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, saying, “The governor of Kwara, so unfortunate. Anytime he sees a snake, it’s Wike. Any day he doesn’t eat, it’s Wike. I never see people who will give time to gossip more than the work they have been given. He has three serving senators; he changed all of them. He has House Reps, he changed all of them.”
Wike also noted that friction between himself and other political actors is nothing new, recalling opposition he faced both as Rivers governor and as FCT minister. “This thing did not start today. It started at the ministerial position. They were not happy that I was Minister of FCT. Also, they were unhappy when I was governor,” he said, adding cryptically, “If they know what I know, they would not come out to shout.”
What’s Really Driving the Fight, According to Insiders
Several APC figures who spoke on condition of anonymity told AfrikTimes that the public dispute over the Rainbow Coalition is really a proxy war over 2031, specifically the vice-presidential slot, and control of the 11th National Assembly.
One source said both Wike and Uzodimma had initially competed for the position of Director-General of Tinubu’s campaign, a race neither won, before their rivalry spilled into other arenas. “Wike, Uzodimma and some of them are strategising for the vice-presidential position. People have very tall ambitions. We are trying to go into the 2027 election, but people are positioning themselves for 2031 in 2026,” the source said, pointing to Rivers State, where Uzodimma has backed Governor Sim Fubara against Wike’s interests, and Imo State, where Wike has supported figures like Samuel Anyanwu against Uzodimma.
The source also referenced a scrapped Senate rule change believed to have targeted Uzodimma’s ambitions for the Senate presidency, and described how the two men have separately lobbied Tinubu, with Uzodimma pitching fundraising proposals for the re-election campaign and Wike allegedly warning the President that governors could not be trusted with such funds.
Another source pointed to the broader stakes for sitting governors, some of whom are watching Wike’s PDP faction recruit political rivals in their own states, including politicians tied to the Saraki dynasty in Kwara, as a direct threat. “This infighting is also considered a threat to President Tinubu’s re-election unless he does something urgently to resolve it,” the source warned.
A separate insider framed the tension in similarly blunt terms, saying APC governors resent that a sitting PDP member serving in an APC-led cabinet is using federal influence to mobilise challengers against them. “Most APC governors are unhappy that Wike, a PDP member serving in an APC-led Federal Government, has been empowered by the President and is using the influence and resources available to him to mobilise politicians to contest for the State Houses of Assembly, Senate, House of Representatives and governorship positions in their respective states, mostly under the PDP, against the governors’ political interests,” the source said, urging Tinubu to intervene before the rift damages the party heading into campaign season.
PDP Factions Weigh In, With Mixed Messages
The party’s Interim National Working Committee, led by Tanimu Turaki, took the opportunity to mock both the APC and Tinubu over the rift. National Publicity Secretary Ini Ememobong argued that the APC created its own problem by allowing Wike to serve in a federal role while remaining nominally PDP. “They created a monster, that monster ended up in their belly,” Ememobong said, warning Tinubu would eventually face the same fate if he didn’t step in. He also dismissed the Rainbow Coalition concept outright, calling it “anti-democratic” and warning it “may lead to the collapse of democracy.”
By contrast, the Wike-aligned PDP faction, led by Publicity Secretary Jungudo Mohammed, defended the minister as an indispensable political force. Mohammed insisted Wike’s support for Tinubu was personal, not partisan, and accused APC governors of badly misreading the situation. “The minister never said he was going to support the APC. Rather, he said his support is for Tinubu as his President and the person who appointed him to the present position he occupies,” Mohammed said, adding that despite increased federal allocations and local government financial autonomy, many APC governors have failed to deliver visible development in their states.
Mohammed further suggested that nervousness, not principle, was driving the governors’ objections, pointing to INEC’s publication of PDP candidate lists as proof the party intends to contest seriously in 2027. “The PDP has fielded credible and popular candidates with the capacity and credibility to defeat these APC governors. That is why they are crying wolf where there is none,” he said.
Attempts to reach APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka, his deputy Duro Meseko, and officials at the Presidency for comment were unsuccessful as of the time of filing, with none of them responding to calls.
