Follow Us on Google
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and federal lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has warned against escalating the party’s confrontation with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, saying the former Rivers State governor’s political support remains important to President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
Jibrin, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday night, urged APC governors to engage Wike through dialogue rather than public criticism, arguing that the minister had made significant political sacrifices for Tinubu and the ruling party despite remaining a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The intervention came shortly after the APC Governors Forum rejected political alliances that could undermine the party or its candidates in the 2027 elections, a position widely linked to Wike’s “Rainbow Coalition” initiative.
The Progressive Governors Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, had said its members would not support any arrangement capable of weakening the APC or adversely affecting its candidates.
But Jibrin argued that the party should distinguish between Wike’s continued PDP membership and his declared support for Tinubu’s second-term bid.
“There is no APC member in Nigeria today that has not directly or indirectly benefited from the efforts of Wike, so long as delivering the President, also managing the government, also performing his work, there is nobody,” he said.
According to him, Wike’s political contribution should not be discounted because he has not formally joined the APC.
“Wike is an asset to the APC. I don’t think Wike should be embarrassed at this moment with public statements,” Jibrin said.
He cited Wike’s role in Rivers politics and the FCT as evidence of the minister’s contribution to the APC-led administration, claiming that Wike had helped the ruling party gain political ground in areas where he retained influence.
“I believe that Wike has sacrificed, he handed over Rivers to APC, Wike had candidates in the FCT election but asked them to step down for APC. Wike came into this government as government of national unity. In reality we should be fair to him, he has done far more than that,” he said.
The lawmaker said his intervention was not motivated by a personal relationship with the FCT minister, stressing that he had met Wike only twice.
“As I talk to you, before God whom I worship, I don’t know Wike but he knows me from afar and I know him from afar,” he said.
Jibrin explained that his concern was the potential impact of internal disagreements on Tinubu’s re-election campaign.
“I’m not holding any brief for Wike, but I think anything that is going to touch on the stability of the journey towards delivering the President I like to make my intervention,” he said.
He also argued that cross-party support for Tinubu should not automatically be interpreted as an attempt to weaken the APC, noting that politicians from opposition parties were also supporting the President.
“There are people who are in other parties, who are working with us in the NDC, in the ADC. Some of them called me yesterday, saying, ‘Look at what they are saying about Wike,'” he said.
Jibrin therefore appealed to APC governors to treat Wike as a political ally rather than an adversary.
“For the governors, they should take Wike as part of them,” he said.
“If there is a problem at the state level, the entire coalition that he is doing is for the President, if anybody at the subnational level feels it may work against him or his interest, they should discuss with Wike, but I do not think Wike should be embarrassed with statements.”
Wike’s political position has become a point of contention within the ruling party because he continues to belong to the PDP while serving in President Tinubu’s APC-led administration and mobilising support for Tinubu’s 2027 presidential bid.
Wike recently clarified that his support for Tinubu did not mean the PDP would abandon contests for governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly seats. He also said his Rainbow Coalition was a cross-party mobilisation platform for the President and not an APC structure.
The FCT minister has also rejected suggestions that he approached APC governors to join the coalition, saying he had not sought such an arrangement with them.
Jibrin pointed to the APC’s performance in the February 2026 FCT Area Council elections as another indication of the political strength available to the ruling party in the capital.
The APC won five of the six chairmanship seats in the elections, losing only Gwagwalada to the PDP.
For Jibrin, the issue should therefore be approached from the standpoint of political numbers and the broader objective of securing Tinubu’s second term.
