BREAKING: Wike Alters Rivers Election Plan For 2027 After APC Govs Slam Him
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, today published an alteration to his 2027 configuration for his home Rivers State, following the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) announcing it on Monday had washed it hands off any political coalition or candidate outside the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2027 elections.
The governors’ position, announced by Imo State’s Governor Hope Uzodimma on Monday, was an apparent attack on the Wike-led Rainbow Coalition in Rivers State in which the Minister expressed backing for APC’s presidential (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and governorship (Kingsley Chinda) candidates.
Wike appears to have changed the plan.
In a video trending online, Wike could be heard addressing supporters and saying: “I heard some governors say the Rainbow coalition is to reduce the votes of our President (Tinubu), people who don’t have capacity. Where were you when we delivered Rivers State for Tinubu in 2023 without a Rainbow coalition? This Rainbow coalition will increase Tinubu’s votes, if you don’t know how to do it come and learn from us, there is nothing in learning.
“Our people know who they are voting for: President APC, Senate APC, House of Representatives PDP.
“When the time for the governorship and House of Assembly comes, we will tell you who to vote for.”
Chairman of the Forum and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, announced their position late Monday after the governors meeting in Abuja.
The APC governors said they would not participate in any political arrangement capable of weakening President Tinubu’s re-election and other APC governorship, National Assembly or State Assembly candidates fearing that it may undermine party candidates at any level.
Despite the national campaign structure, the PGF said APC governors would take the lead in mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election in their respective states.
However, the Minister said the rainbow coalition had nothing to do with the APC, describing the coalition as a platform for other political parties pleased with the good works of the President and willing to support Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Making the position known in a statement today Tuesday, by his Senior Special Assistant to the Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, the FCT Minister, who said he would not be the one to help people win elections in their states, noted that “politics is local and those having problems in their states should resolve them instead of using the reelection of the President to whip up sentiments.”
Wike pointed out that he never met with APC before he and other members of the G5 supported the President in 2023, and that for 2027, his support was focused on the President only.
Apparently attacking Uzodimma, the Minister said politics was no longer about coming from fourth position to be Governor, it was about genuinely mobilising support and winning elections from the polling units.
He asked: “In Imo State under Governor Hope Uzodinma, how did APC win two Senate seats in 2023, in an election held the same day with that of the President and APC had less than 15 percent in the Presidential election? Was it rainbow coalition? Were the voters confused?
“Was it rainbow coalition that also made APC to win National Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu States where the President did not have ten percent of the votes?
“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?
The Minister urged all stakeholders to put the presidential election first, saying: “After the President must have been reelected, we can all go and face elections in our states.
“What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the reelection of the President. I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates to contest governorship, National Assembly and States House of Assembly elections.
“Most importantly, rainbow coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is own way of mobilising support across political parties for Mr President, who has done well to deserve a second term.”
