– Uzodimma warns against parallel structures • Wike fires back • PDP backs FCT Minister

BY FRONTLINE REPORTERS

A fresh political battle has erupted within the camp of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general election, as governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have drawn a clear line against the cross-party political structure being championed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The confrontation came to a head after the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, declared that its members would neither participate in nor support any political alliance capable of weakening the APC, undermining the party’s candidates or affecting President Tinubu’s re-election bid.

The declaration, delivered by the PGF Chairman and Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, followed a closed-door meeting of APC governors at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.

Although Wike was not expressly named in the governors’ resolution, the timing and substance of the declaration have been widely interpreted as a response to the minister’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party political movement he has promoted as a platform for mobilising support for Tinubu across party lines.

Uzodimma said the governors were determined to maintain a unified APC campaign structure and would not allow competing political interests to create what he described as confusion or divided loyalty within the party.

“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.”

The Imo governor further declared that the forum’s campaign commitment would remain exclusively focused on APC candidates, stressing that the party’s candidates were being sponsored by the APC and would therefore receive the support of its governors.

“The governors’ campaign commitment is exclusive to 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.

The governors’ position marks a significant fault line in the emerging political realignments ahead of 2027, particularly in states where politicians from different parties are forming alliances around the presidential contest while maintaining separate interests in governorship and legislative elections.

Wike fires back

Wike, however, quickly rejected the governors’ position, insisting that his political mission ahead of 2027 was principally to mobilise support for President Tinubu and not to determine who should win governorship or legislative elections in individual states.

Through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, the FCT minister argued that the Rainbow Coalition had nothing to do with the APC and was instead a platform through which politicians across party lines could support the President.

Wike also challenged Uzodimma to account for APC’s performance in the 2023 presidential election in Imo State, arguing that voters had demonstrated that they could support one party for one election and another party for a different contest without being confused.

He cited the 2023 elections in Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi, where, according to him, voters supported APC candidates in some National Assembly contests while voting differently in the presidential 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,” Wike said.

The minister maintained that his priority was the presidential contest, urging politicians to settle their respective state-level battles independently.

“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 States House of Assembly elections.”

Wike also insisted that he had never negotiated with the APC before supporting Tinubu in 2023, recalling that he and other members of the former G5 governors backed the President without formally joining the ruling party.

He therefore argued that his continued membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was not incompatible with supporting Tinubu’s re-election.

‘Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with APC’

Wike was emphatic that the coalition was not designed to replace the APC or prevent opposition parties from fielding candidates.

“Most importantly, the Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is its way of mobilising support across political parties for Mr President.”

The minister’s position has, however, brought him into increasing friction with some APC governors, particularly in states where coalition politics intersects with fierce contests for governorship and legislative seats.

The political tension has been particularly visible in Rivers, Kwara, Gombe and Cross River, where competing political interests and cross-party alignments are reshaping the calculations of politicians ahead of the 2027 elections.

PDP backs Wike

The PDP has now entered the dispute, defending Wike’s right to support Tinubu while remaining a member of the opposition party.

In a statement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said Wike had a constitutional and democratic right to determine whom he supported politically.

According to the PDP spokesman, supporting Tinubu did not automatically amount to abandoning the PDP or joining the APC.

“Wike has every constitutional and democratic right to decide whom he supports politically. His support for President Tinubu is legitimate, and as a serving appointee of the President, there is nothing contradictory about supporting the President while maintaining his political identity and relationships within the PDP.”

The party also argued that the APC governors could not dictate which candidates opposition parties should field in the 2027 elections.

It described any attempt to restrict Wike’s political activities or prevent opposition parties from presenting candidates against APC candidates as a political miscalculation.

The PDP further contended that if APC governors were confident in their political standing and performance, they should welcome electoral competition and allow voters to decide at the polls.

Battle lines harden

With the 2027 elections approaching, the latest confrontation has exposed a widening debate over the relationship between Tinubu’s presidential re-election campaign, the APC’s party machinery and cross-party political movements supporting the President.

While the APC governors insist that their campaign architecture must remain firmly anchored to the party and its candidates, Wike maintains that support for Tinubu can cut across party boundaries without requiring politicians to abandon their individual political identities.

The dispute therefore goes beyond the personalities of Wike and Uzodimma. At its heart is an emerging contest over who controls the political machinery, alliances and campaign structures that will shape the 2027 electoral battlefield.

For now, the APC governors have drawn their line: support for Tinubu must, in their view, be accompanied by support for APC candidates.

Wike’s response is equally clear: his support is for Tinubu, while the Rainbow Coalition remains a cross-party platform.

With both positions now firmly on the table, the political contest over the shape of the 2027 campaign is set to intensify.

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