***Uzodimma mum, APC govs kick against Wike’s rainbow coalition
***How we ensured Tinubu beat Atiku, Obi in 2023 — FCT Minister
By Omeiza Ajayi & Daniel Abia
ABUJA— Federal Capital Territory FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike, has accused the governors of Imo and Kwara states, Senator Hope Uzodinma and Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, of working against him, alleging that both men have failed to reciprocate the political support he claimed to have extended to them in the past.
The former Rivers State governor also recounted how he and his allies ensured that President Bola Tinubu beat Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi in 2023, adding that either of both men would come after him if Tinubu was not re-elected next year.
Wike, who said he would not fold his arms and allow Atiku or Obi win the 2027 presidential poll, also battled his predecessor in Rivers, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, saying he is not fit to be vice president. Amaechi is running mate to Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential standard bearer.
He also slammed the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, for allegedly acting like a political party during its recent annual national conference.
Wike spoke during a media chat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, yesterday.
Uzodimma, Abdulrazaq ought to be grateful to me
Wike said the Kwara State governor had been in the forefront of a campaign against him, adding that he had personally confronted the governor over the matter.
“Take for example, Kwara, he has been the one championing this campaign against me everywhere. Yes, I have confronted him too. I don’t talk about what I cannot defend,” he said.
According to him, the Kwara governor accused him of sponsoring candidates against his preferred choices in the state.
He added that the governor ought to be grateful to him for offering a platform to aggrieved APC bigwigs who ditched the party for his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, rather than going to pitch tent with anti-Bola Tinubu coalition.
The minister also referenced a strained relationship with the Imo State governor, recalling that the governor once declined to support him, despite the support he gave him.
Wike insisted that despite these grievances, his focus remains on delivering President Tinubu’s re-election, adding that he would not allow personal disputes with the governors to distract him from that goal.
The minister maintained that he had never concealed his political intentions and challenged those alleging he was working against the interests of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, governors to state clearly what support they had extended to him in his own political battles.
“Any Nigerian who knows me know I have never hidden my intention,” he said.
Uzodimma mum, APC govs kick against Wike’s rainbow coalition
Contacted on the issue, yesterday, the Imo State governor declined comments, while APC governors faulted Wike. While Uzodimma chairs the APC governors’ forum, Abdulrazaq is chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF.
Contacted yesterday, a top source close to the APC governors said Wike’s National Rainbow Coalition was set up to create confusion among electorate, and reduce the votes of President Tinubu
Govs alert Tinubu, push back against sabotage
Sources close to Tinubu however, said the President had been informed that the National Rainbow Coalition might affect his votes in the forthcoming general elections across the states.
Sources said these concerns were expressed by the governors at a recent meeting in Abuja.
The coalition, led by Nyesom Wike, has fielded candidates in the PDP for National Assembly elections which come up on the same date as the presidential election in Nigeria.
They said the arrangement might fragment the vote strength of President Tinubu of the APC, who the coalition claimed to support.
Members of the rainbow coalition, who are desperate about their personal ambition, were said to be merely using the president’s name in the public, while secretly promoting their candidacy in their different communities.
The joker, it was learned from sources closer to the strategic and nocturnal meetings, is to instruct their followers secretly to ditch anything APC during the election and vote for the PDP from top to bottom.
This development is said to be currently causing concerned within the ranks of the APC governors as some said they won’t buy an idea which, according to them, will affect the President and APC’s National Assembly candidates.
They argued that majority of the voting public had not attained that level of political enlightenment to make proper discernment between different political parties. Political records show that people vote in a singular direction in most cases.
They said the coalition would not be able to handle the old, rural and illiterate voters. Example can be seen in the case of Oyo State in the 2023 election where in an attempt to support the presidential bid of candidate Tinubu of the APC, the PDP which was the ruling party at the state level lost the National Assembly seats.
Now, ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who is one of Tinubu’s fiercest challengers, has been unrelenting in promoting his aspirations, emphasising that the electorate should vote for his party. Atiku is positioning himself to harvest full votes from North-East and North-West.
“This will hurt Tinubu badly, if he does not get maximum votes from North-Central and South-East. The development was believed to have been leaked to Nyesom Wike. Insider sources said it is the major reason he launched a tirade at Abdurazaq and Uzodimma.”
Wike’s comments were targeted at AbdulRazaq who, he alleged, had taken sides with his arch foe, Bukola Saraki, in Kwara. However, the rainbow coalition is not a Kwara issue. They have candidates in Gombe, Cross River, Zamfara, Kwara, and other states. In Cross River, a similar coalition, comprising PDP, Labour-Obidient, ADC elements, has also set out to challenge the incumbent governor, Bassey Otu.
Sources said the governors want the party leadership to step in to avoid what could perhaps be the biggest sabotage in the history of the country, saying “the rainbow coalition poses more dangers to the president’s re-election and needs to be addressed urgently.”
How we ensured Atiku, Obi lost to Tinubu in 2023 — Wike
Wike also disclosed how he and his allies worked to ensure that the PDP flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi lost the 2023 presidential election to PresidentTinubu, describing it as a deliberate political strategy targeted at Atiku, whom he identified as the man truly in control of the PDP chances that year.
Wike said the strategy was built around denying Atiku the support of key PDP structures, including those in the South-East, in favour of Obi’s candidacy.
“Do you know what we did in 2023? Let me tell you now to shock you. We knew that the man who was controlling the election was Atiku. Forget about all the noise about Obi. We gave it to him – take the South-East,’’ he said.
The minister explained that then Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, was central to the plan, given his own reservations about the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“We knew his bias, we knew what was going to happen because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. We wanted to block Atiku, so we said, support Obi. It was a strategy. We wanted to defeat him, yes. And he took it,’’ Wike said.
He said the plan effectively deprived Atiku of South-South support that could have altered the outcome of the election, insisting the PDP’s internal calculations, not any external factor, determined the party’s defeat.
I’ll be Atiku, Obi’s first casualty if Tinubu loses— FCT MINISTER
Consequently, Wike declared that he would be the first politician to suffer the consequences should Atiku Abubakar of the ADC or Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, defeat President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, citing the intensity of his open support for the President.
Wike said his commitment to Tinubu’s re-election had made him a marked target of the opposition, and insisted he had no regrets over his political stance.
“I will be the first politician that I think they will come after. I will be the first politician. I know they will come for my head,” he said.
The minister said he was under no illusions about the risks of his position but maintained that he would not shy away from confronting the President’s opponents.
He said he remained focused solely on Tinubu’s victory regardless of the personal political cost.
“Each day I sleep, I am thinking about the president’s re-election. When I am eating, I think about the president’s re-election. Everything I am doing now is about the president’s re-election,” Wike stated. The minister said he is not bothered by the criticisms trailing his support for the President, noting that he had been vilified more than any other politician for his loyalty.
“I don’t see where anybody in this country today has been called names the way my name has been. I am not bothered about people who say their [own] thing. My business is, like I said, I am going to support Mr President,” he declared.
Tinubu’ll get 25% in every Northern state, Atiku won’t reach 10% in South
Wike predicted that Tinubu would secure at least 25 per cent of votes in every state across Northern Nigeria in the 2027 presidential election, while Atiku Abubakar would fail to cross the 10 per cent mark in many states in the south.
He dismissed suggestions that the President’s support base in the north was under threat, describing such analysis as unfounded.
Asked about the president’s chances in the north, Wike said political strategists ought to also be concerned about Atiku’s chances in the south.
“There is no way in the north that the President will not make 25 per cent. There are so many places in the south Atiku won’t have 10 per cent,” he said.
The minister reeled out specific states in the North-Central zone he said Tinubu was certain to win, insisting his projection is grounded in political realities on ground rather than speculation.
“Let’s take North-Central. Who will win in Plateau? The President will take Plateau. He will win Nasarawa. He will win Kwara. He will win Kogi,” he said.
Wike also pushed back against the argument that economic hardship in the country would work against Tinubu’s re-election chances, insisting that hunger had never determined the outcome of any Nigerian election.
“Is there any election that had no hunger in Nigeria? Mention one election. Even Buhari’s election, people were talking about insecurity, hunger. Everybody still voted,” he stated.
Amaechi unfit for VP – Wike
The FCT minister also launched a scathing attack on his long-time political adversary and former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, declaring that anyone who once shut down courts was fundamentally unfit to serve as Nigeria’s vice president.
Wike spared no words as he took aim at both Amaechi and the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, urging Nigerians to critically examine the past actions of political figures claiming to champion democracy and the rule of law before trusting them with high office.
“Rotimi Amaechi, who wants to be vice president today, once shut down the courts in Rivers State and caused a pregnant woman to give birth in prison,” Wike alleged.
He argued that such precedents should automatically disqualify political aspirants from occupying sensitive executive positions, emphasising that a track record of undermining the judiciary could not be brushed aside.
He further accused the NBA of abandoning its historic role as an impartial defender of justice and constitutionalism in favour of partisan politics.
“The Nigerian Bar Association has now taken sides politically. They are now a political party,” he declared, maintaining that the association ought to remain an independent institution dedicated to upholding the rule of law, rather than serving as an arena for political contests or offering platforms that amounted to partisan endorsements.
On the 2027 presidential race, Wike declared that he would not remain passive and allow Atiku, the presidential candidate of the ADC, to win the election, as political activities begin to gather momentum ahead of the polls.
“You want me to fold my arms for Atiku Abubakar to come and win the election?” he queried.
The minister also dismissed reports that he was planning to relocate to Rivers State, saying his frequent visits to the state were part of efforts to remain politically engaged with his people, rather than any plan to abandon his responsibilities in Abuja.
“It is not about relocating; it is about coming home to relate with the people and talk to them, and also do those things you know how to do very well, not to take chances. So, I’m not relocating. I don’t need to relocate, but I also have to be in touch with my people, so I don’t just sit in Abuja and then say everything is going on well there,” he said.
Wike said he would not rely solely on assurances from political associates that all was well in Rivers State, particularly ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said: “I don’t want to sit in Abuja and candidates are saying, ‘Oh, don’t bother, everything is going on well.’’
He stressed that the period had become politically significant and required active engagement, adding that his presence in Rivers State should not be interpreted as a plan to relocate from the nation’s capital.
Wike added that his parents were still alive and that he had strong personal and political ties to his home state, making regular visits necessary.
Tinubu has no power to dictate how states spend subsidy gains— Wike
On the subsidy removal controversy, the FCT minister said that President Tinubu had no power to dictate how state and local governments spend the additional revenue they now received.
Responding to comments of Peter Obi on the management of the gains from subsidy removal, Wike said instead of questioning the federal government, Obi should be asking how the additional revenue accruing to the sub-nationals was being utilised.
“All he should have asked is, ‘having removed the subsidy, what do you do with the gains?’ This is what I think a reasonable person should talk about.
‘’Now, the government said the gains have been shared among sub-nationals. Tinubu has no power to say, ‘states, this is what you should do with the funds that you’ve from the fuel subsidy.’
“He has no power to tell local governments what to do with their money. All tiers of government are independent.”
He said the increased allocations had given states greater financial capacity, noting that governments that previously struggled to pay salaries and pensions were now better positioned to execute projects.
The former Rivers State governor also praised Tinubu for taking the decision to remove the subsidy, describing it as a bold step that previous presidents had been unwilling to take.
“Tinubu deserves kudos for taking the bold decision no president took. Now, it’s time for states to account for the funds they have got,” Wike said.
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