Demola Olarewaju, a senior political aide to African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has claimed that FCT Minister Nyesom Wike is deliberately keeping the Peoples Democratic Party alive in some states as part of a strategy to remain politically relevant after the 2027 elections.
Olarewaju made the claim in a post on Wednesday while commenting on the growing disagreement between Wike and governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress over the minister’s Rainbow Coalition.
“Wike keeping PDP barely alive on certain states is strategically to reposition himself as an opposition force post elections: everyone knows and he also knows that Bola Tinubu will dump him after 2027, lose or lose,” Olarewaju wrote.
He further described the minister’s confrontation with APC governors as part of a calculated political strategy, arguing that Wike’s relationship with President Bola Tinubu is based on what he described as mutual and temporary interests.
“His fight against APC Govs is strategic, his usefulness to Tinubu is mutual and tactical,” he added.
Olarewaju’s comments came as Wike continues to insist that his support for Tinubu’s 2027 presidential bid does not mean that he has abandoned the PDP or agreed that the party should withdraw from other electoral contests.
The issue has created a fresh political disagreement between Wike and the APC Governors Forum, particularly after Imo State Governor and forum chairman, Hope Uzodimma, announced that APC governors would not support political arrangements that could undermine the ruling party or its candidates.
The governors said they would focus on APC candidates across the various elections, while Wike has maintained that his Rainbow Coalition is specifically aimed at mobilising support for Tinubu’s presidential re-election.
According to Wike, there is no contradiction in supporting a presidential candidate from one party while backing candidates from other parties in governorship and legislative elections.
He has repeatedly pointed to the 2023 elections as an example of how voters can choose different parties for different positions during the same election cycle.
“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 per cent in the presidential election? Was it Rainbow Coalition? Were the voters confused?” Wike asked.
“Was it Rainbow Coalition that also made APC win National Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu States where the President did not have ten per cent of the votes?”
Wike has also rejected the suggestion that his political activities amount to an arrangement with the APC. In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, he said the Rainbow Coalition was a multi-party platform created to support Tinubu.
“Most importantly, Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is our own way of mobilising support across political parties for Mr President, who has done well to deserve a second term,” Wike said.
He has also made it clear that his support for Tinubu does not require the PDP to abandon its own candidates in other elections.
“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,” he said.
The position has put Wike at odds with the APC Governors Forum, which has argued that political arrangements supporting candidates outside the APC could weaken the party’s electoral structure.
Uzodimma said after a meeting of APC governors in Abuja that the forum had unanimously rejected alliances capable of undermining Tinubu’s re-election or APC candidates.
“The APC Governors Forum unanimously resolved that its members will not participate in, support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the re-election of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels,” Uzodimma said.
“In other words, the forum has no intention to support any candidate at any level that is not an APC candidate because our candidates who are contesting the election are being sponsored by our party.”
The disagreement has since produced a series of exchanges between Wike and some APC governors. Wike recently took particular aim at Uzodimma, telling him that he should be grateful that he was not a member of the APC.
“I said I will support the President from day one. I never told Mr. President I will join APC. Go and ask him. If I want to join APC, it’s not people like Hope who will tell me to join APC,” Wike said.
“In fact, he is lucky I’m not in APC because I wouldn’t take that kind of rubbish he is doing in APC.”
The FCT minister has also argued that the disagreement with some APC governors predates the Rainbow Coalition, alleging that some of them were unhappy with his appointment as FCT minister by Tinubu.
“All these things you are seeing didn’t start today, it started with the ministerial position. They are not happy, APC Governors, that I was given the Minister of FCT,” Wike said.
He further alleged that some governors intervened in the political crisis between him and Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara but failed to protect his political interests.