APC needs Wike more than he needs APC, says Jibrin

A member of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) needs the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, more than the former Rivers State governor needs the ruling party.

Jibrin, who represents Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State, urged APC governors to engage Wike in negotiations rather than push him away, warning that other political groups could be willing to work with him if he decides to leave the party.

The lawmaker made the remarks while speaking on Arise News on Monday.

According to Jibrin, Wike has remained relevant to the APC and has contributed significantly to the party’s political interests since the 2023 presidential election.

He said the former Rivers governor would remain politically influential regardless of whether he holds public office.

“Somebody like Wike will continue to be Wike in and out of office. He has qualities like the President. The President today—you take him out as the President, he would still continue to maintain his relevance.

“After all, he was out of office for 16, 17 years, and his relevance was intact. Wike is that sort of a person, so Wike will be in demand all the time,” Jibrin said.

He argued that Wike’s political value made it important for the APC to maintain its relationship with him ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“For the fact that we had Wike in 2023, there is no need for any renewal. Automatically, for goodness’ sake, APC needs Wike, and I just want to be a bit subtle; I would have said much more than he needs us,” he said.

Jibrin added that Wike could attract offers from other political groups if he left the APC.

“Because today, if he pulls out of the APC, he’ll be in high demand all over the country, and that’s why I’ve been saying, let our governors—I love our governors; some of them weren’t happy about my intervention, but I took time to explain to them that, look, what you need to do with Wike is to negotiate with Wike,” he said.

The lawmaker urged APC governors to adopt the same approach he said President Bola Tinubu used to bring Wike into his administration after the 2023 election.

He said failing to engage the FCT minister could have wider consequences for the APC, particularly with the emergence of the Rainbow Coalition ahead of 2027.

“If the President of the country hadn’t negotiated with Wike and brought Wike on board today, there would have been a Rainbow Coalition in this country against APC,” Jibrin said.

He therefore advised governors to engage Wike based on the political circumstances in their respective states.

“You just have to approach it in a pragmatic manner, and you see, the cases of the states are different. They are not the same. They are not uniform,” he said.

Jibrin also criticised the approach taken by some APC governors in publicly confronting Wike, arguing that negotiations would be more productive.

“I was shocked. I’m choosing my words carefully. I don’t want the governors to say I’m hard on them.

“My relationship with them is intact. But I believe that the models they adopted by going to do the press conference just to hit hard on Wike—I believe that it’s wrong because all the states, their cases are peculiar; they’re different cases, and there’s nothing wrong with going into discussion with Wike,” he said.

The APC lawmaker said his intervention was motivated by his concern about the party’s prospects in the 2027 election.

“Anything that I see can pose a danger to the re-election of the President, I will always intervene,” Jibrin added.