APC governors challenge Wike’s cross-party support strategy

Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal has challenged Nyesom Wike’s political position, saying the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory must choose between supporting the All Progressives Congress and remaining outside the party. The dispute centres on Wike’s “Rainbow Coalition”, a cross-party platform through which he says he is mobilising support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election while backing candidates from other parties in governorship and legislative contests. In an analysis published by Premium Times, Emmanuel Ado reported that the Progressive Governors Forum, led by Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma, regards the arrangement as unacceptable.

The governors’ stated position is that support for Tinubu at presidential level should also extend to APC candidates in state and legislative elections. “Be on one side. You can’t be on two sides,” Lawal told Wike, according to the article.

He added: “It’s either he is in APC or he is out.” Lawal also said he would raise Wike’s political position with President Tinubu. Ado characterised the confrontation as a turning point in the relationship between Wike and APC governors, who had previously tolerated what the writer described as his forceful political style. The article argues that Wike’s cross-party activity is now viewed as a challenge to the governors’ authority over political structures in their states.

The analysis also links Wike to the crisis that weakened the Peoples Democratic Party and to the political conflict involving Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara. It says Wike was given significant influence in Rivers State while serving as minister. Ado argues that Wike’s political leverage may have declined as the opposition landscape changed.

He concludes that a dispute requiring Tinubu to choose between Wike and the APC governors would place the president in a difficult position within his own party.