2027: APC Govs, Wike On Warpath As Tinubu’s Campaign Parleys Sultan, Obas

Governors of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, were on a warpath as the 2027 general election gathered steam.

APC governors vowed not to participate in, support, or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the re-election of President Bola Tinubu, weakening the ruling party, or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels.

The governors under the aegis of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) rejected any arrangement that creates confusion, divided loyalty, or competing interests within the party.

The Chairman of the Forum and the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, stated this after a closed-door meeting of the forum at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.

Reading the communique issued after the meeting, Uzodinma maintained that the primary focus of the forum is to support the official APC candidates at all levels rather than external interests.

The declaration was widely viewed as a response to Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, which he had said is focused on mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election rather than supporting APC candidates in other elections.

Miffed by the APC governors’ apparent reference to his rainbow coalition, Wike fired back at the PGF members, saying only President Tinubu can question his political decisions.

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time, the former Rivers state governor said: “The only person that can question me today is the President. No other person.”

He maintained that his support was specifically for Tinubu’s presidential bid and did not amount to an agreement to support APC candidates in governorship or legislative elections.

“There was never a day I went to the Governors’ Forum to align with the APC coalition. There was never one day. I have been talking about my alliance with political parties, and there was never one day that he referred to our alliance,” Wike said.

Meanwhile, the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) visited prominent traditional rulers across the country.

The council, led by its Director-General, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, visited the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu I and the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku’Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, to seek royal blessings, prayers and support for the president’s re-election.

At each palace, Yari said the visits were consultations with traditional rulers and that the exercise would cover the six geopolitical zones.

The Sultan urged the council to ensure violence-free campaigns, saying: “Politics is a game of numbers, not of death.”

Oba Akiolu declared that Tinubu’s second term was assured, saying: “There is no vacancy in Aso Villa for the next four or five years.”

Also, Oba Ewuare II of Benin said there was no need to seek change merely for its own sake, urging Nigerians to consider continuity where it served the national interest.

Yari, in his remarks at the palace of the Oba of Lagos, said since former President Muhammadu Buhari, from the North, spent eight years in office, the South should also produce the president for eight years.

Speaking in Sokoto, he said: “we will preach President Tinubu’s performance everywhere. Justice demands that the South presides for eight years.”

In Edo, Yari said the Tinubu administration had made progress in key economic indicators, claiming that annual GDP growth increased from 2.7 per cent in 2023 to 3.9 per cent, while inflation declined from 22.9 per cent to 15.9 per cent.

On the other hand, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration over the long-running Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project triggered a fresh political dispute between the APC Presidential Campaign Council and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The APC Campaign Council, in a statement by its spokesman, Dele Alake, accused Atiku of compromising Nigeria’s interests for personal gain and urged him to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, following revelations surrounding a $500,000 payment made to his then-wife, Jennifer Douglas, in 2003 by Leno Adesanya, promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

Alake alleged that Atiku and former Power Minister Olu Agunloye worked together to execute an unlawful contract despite reservations by then-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Federal Executive Council.

The APC also cited the timing of the payment and the alleged contract award, arguing that the payment to Douglas preceded Agunloye’s May 2003 letter purportedly awarding Sunrise the project on a build-operate-transfer basis.

But Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, rejected the APC’s interpretation, accusing the ruling party of turning an arbitration proceeding into a corruption verdict that, according to him, the tribunal never delivered.

Atiku challenged the APC to identify the specific paragraph in the final award in which the tribunal found that he collected a $500,000 bribe, directed Agunloye to award the Mambilla contract to Sunrise, abused his office, or participated in a corrupt conspiracy.

In another development, the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, a political pressure group mobilising grassroots support for a joint presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso of Nigeria Democratic Congress(NDC), unveiled a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The council comprised the Director-General of the movement, John Ughulu, as Director-General of the campaign, while the National Secretary, Saadatu Sani, will also serve as the team’s secretary.

The council comprises zonal and state coordinators as well as directors for mobilisation, women affairs, strategy, security, legal affairs and other key directorates, according to a statement issued on Thursday.

The council has coordinators for the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with state coordinators appointed for all 36 states.

It also includes directors for grassroots mobilisation, contact and engagement, special duties, procurement, Information Technology, legal affairs, strategy and planning, security and intelligence, and administration.