Political Scientists Differ Over Inclusion Of Wike, Adeleke, Soludo In APC Campaign Council

By James Kwen, Abdullahi Olesin,  Aza Msue, Nnamdi Mbawike, nd Joshua Dada

Political scientists have differed over the implications of the inclusion of prominent opposition figures, including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke and Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo, in the revised presidential campaign council of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general election.

While some analysts described the appointments as a strategic move to broaden President Bola Tinubu’s support base and strengthen his re-election prospects, others warned that the arrangement could deepen divisions within the APC, raise questions about party discipline and create tensions between the president’s campaign allies and elected APC governors.

The APC on Monday included Wike, Adeleke, Soludo and former Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo in its revised 2027 Presidential Campaign Council.

The development has drawn attention to the Rainbow Coalition, an alliance of opposition politicians coordinated by Wike to support Tinubu’s re-election, amid reported tensions between the coalition and some APC governors.

Although the inclusion of opposition figures signals an effort to build cross-party support for the president, questions remain over how the arrangement will affect political contests at state level, particularly in states where APC governors and opposition politicians are competing for influence.

 

Political Scientists Differ

The immediate past president of the Nigeria Political Science Association (NPSA), Prof. Hassan Saliu, described the inclusion of Wike and other opposition figures in the APC presidential campaign structure as a morale booster for the ruling party.

Saliu, a political science lecturer at the University of Ilorin, told LEADERSHIP that the move appeared to reflect Tinubu’s determination to consolidate support ahead of the election.

“The hand of the president is in this. It is a morale booster for the party,” he said.

Although he said he did not yet have the full details of the arrangement, Saliu argued that the APC needed to accommodate different political interests to improve its chances in 2027.

“On the surface of it, the implications are obvious. No more war, let us go home, as Ebenezer Obey would say,” he said.

Saliu observed that the Rainbow Coalition appeared to be concentrated in Rivers State and the FCT, raising questions about the position of PDP candidates in other states where the APC controls the government.

He recalled that the APC had accommodated the G5 governors during the 2023 presidential election, an arrangement he said contributed to the party’s victory.

“I was one of those who shared the view that the party should not be arrogant with its campaigns: it surely needs every vote to win in 2027. After all, they tolerated the G5 in 2023, which enabled the APC to win the presidential election. Why not now?” he asked.

He suggested that the development could also reflect concerns among some APC governors about their electoral prospects.

However, Dr. Isaac Mamkaa, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the College of Education, Katsina-Ala, Benue State, criticised the involvement of opposition politicians in the APC presidential campaign.

Mamka said the arrangement raised questions about party discipline and the enforcement of political parties’ constitutions against members involved in activities that could be considered contrary to their parties’ interests.

“They think they are winning the souls of opposition elements like governors of Anambra and Osun states, Charles Soludo, Ademola Adeleke and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. But it also has legal and other implications,” he said.

He questioned whether political parties could effectively enforce their internal rules when members openly worked with rival parties.

Mamka also pointed to tensions involving APC members in Rivers State and other states where opposition figures had aligned themselves with Tinubu’s re-election campaign.

He questioned the implications of giving Wike a coordinating role in Rivers State while Governor Siminalayi Fubara, an APC member, remained in office.

The lecturer warned that the arrangement could generate resentment among APC supporters and affect perceptions of Tinubu’s commitment to democratic principles.

“If he was a true democrat, he would not allow Wike to be doing this thing clandestinely. He wouldn’t have been so public,” Mamka said, arguing that the public nature of the alliance could affect the administration’s political image.

Another political science lecturer at the College of Education, Katsina-Ala, Kuma Iorkaan, described Tinubu’s decision to include Wike and other opposition figures in his campaign structure as unusual.

Iorkaan warned that the arrangement could create disharmony within the APC if not carefully managed.

“To me, if Tinubu does not handle this issue well, it may cause disharmony within the APC,” he said.

He suggested that Tinubu might be relying on Wike’s political influence to deliver Rivers State in 2027 but cautioned against alienating APC governors.

“My advice is that Tinubu should not neglect the progressive governors because they are the ones to deliver votes in their various states to the APC,” he said.

 

Okorie: Governors Have Reasons To Worry

The founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said APC governors had reasons to be apprehensive about the arrangement, although he maintained that the president had the prerogative to determine the composition of his campaign council.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Enugu, Okorie said Tinubu was entitled to choose individuals he believed could strengthen his re-election campaign.

“The way I see it is that the president has a more holistic view of the challenges facing him for the next election than all the governors put together,” he said.

He added that the president’s decision should be understood within the context of the national campaign rather than as an endorsement of the Rainbow Coalition’s activities at state level.

“He has the prerogative over who will be in the presidential campaign team depending on the role he will want them to play. The president has done what he thinks he should do to strengthen his presidential campaign council. It has nothing to do with Rainbow Coalition or no Rainbow Coalition,” Okorie said.

However, he acknowledged that the arrangement could create conflicts between the interests of the president and those of APC governors in state elections.

“The governors have their reasons to be apprehensive because definitely, there will be a clash of interest at the governors’ level,” he said.

According to Okorie, APC governors would continue to regard the PDP and other parties as opponents in their respective states, even if their leaders were working with Tinubu at the presidential level.

He maintained that the governors would seek to win their states for the president while pursuing their own parties’ interests in other elections.

Okorie also argued that Soludo could help the APC improve its prospects in Anambra State, where the ruling party does not control the government.

He said Wike’s repeated claims that he could deliver Rivers State and the FCT for Tinubu made it reasonable for the president to give him a role in the campaign structure.

Nevertheless, Okorie stressed that cooperation at the presidential level would not necessarily eliminate competing political interests at state level.

Wike: Rainbow Coalition Has Come To Stay

Wike has dismissed suggestions that the Rainbow Coalition has created a rift between him and APC governors, insisting that the alliance supporting Tinubu’s re-election is permanent.

Speaking during his monthly media chat in Abuja on Tuesday, the minister said he had no problem with the APC governors and challenged anyone with grievances against him to address them directly.

“I don’t know where you are getting all this from. Problem that does not exist. I don’t know what concerns there are. As far as I am concerned, there is no problem,” he said.

Asked whether the arrangement had unsettled his critics within the APC, Wike replied: “If you have any problem against me, come out and face Wike. Don’t go under the Rainbow Coalition. For the Rainbow Coalition, it has come. It will stay. There is nothing anybody can do about it.”

Wike, who coordinates the coalition’s activities in Rivers State and the FCT, said the initiative brought together APC members and supporters of Tinubu who belonged to other political parties.

“If you see that word, PBAT/APC, it means those who are supporting the president who are not members of the party, together with the party, are working together to achieve that purpose,” he said.

He cited Soludo and Adeleke as political figures associated with the coalition’s state-level coordination, alongside himself.

The minister insisted that the alliance was not intended to displace the APC, which would remain the platform for Tinubu’s re-election bid.

“The major thing is Mr President. Whatever we are going to do, whoever has any idea or anything to contribute is to the success of Mr President. That is the whole thing,” he said.

Using the FCT as an example, Wike said the coalition would support Tinubu while backing APC candidates for the National Assembly.

“We are going to vote for Mr President, and the National Assembly candidates are for APC,” he said, questioning why the arrangement should generate controversy.

He also rejected suggestions that the coalition represented an entirely new development in Nigerian politics, arguing that cross-party support for presidential candidates had existed in previous elections.

“When you say a new thing that never happened, I don’t think so,” he said, adding that the arrangement had become more visible because of the approaching election.

 

Adeleke’s Campaign Council Pledges 1.5m Votes

In Osun State, the Imole Campaign Council has pledged to deliver 1.5 million votes for Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.

The council’s Director-General, Senator Olalere Oyewumi, made the pledge on Tuesday, saying the Accord Party structure in the state would work towards the president’s victory.

The Imole Campaign Council was established to mobilise support for Adeleke’s re-election bid in the August 15 governorship election in Osun State.

Its support for Tinubu followed Adeleke’s inclusion in the revised APC Presidential Campaign Council as the state coordinator.

Oyewumi welcomed the appointment, describing it as recognition of Adeleke’s political influence and capacity to mobilise voters.

“The appointment is a well-deserved one. We assure the president that his confidence in the ability of Governor Adeleke to deliver Osun in the presidential election will not be misplaced,” he said.

He added: “We promise the president, just like Governor Adeleke said some time ago, that we will deliver 1.5 million votes to ensure his victory in the coming presidential election.”

 

Ex-Northern Governors Vow To Triple Tinubu’s Votes

Meanwhile, former governors and other political leaders from northern Nigeria have pledged to mobilise increased support for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general election.

 

The leaders, operating under the auspices of Arewa for Asiwaju (A4A), made the commitment during a meeting with APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday.

 

Those present included former Kano State Governor Senator Ibrahim Shekarau; former Plateau State Governor Senator Simon Lalong; former Jigawa State Governor Mohammed Badaru; former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello; former Taraba State Governor Jolly Nyame; former Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema; and Senator Suleiman Kawu Sumaila, representing Kano South, among others.

 

Shekarau, chairman of the A4A Board of Trustees and leader of the delegation, pledged to work with the APC and its presidential campaign structures to secure more votes for Tinubu.

 

He said the group was established to complement the party’s mobilisation efforts, reduce voter apathy and translate its support in northern Nigeria into votes at the ballot box.

 

“The A4A concept is an idea put together to ensure the mobilisation of the teeming population up here in the north — 19 northern states and the FCT. We’re very conscious of the number of voters in the north, which is the largest compared to our brothers up in the south,” Shekarau said.

 

He said the group would develop strategies to increase voter turnout and improve the party’s performance in areas where it had recorded weak results in previous elections.

 

“We will ensure that the largest number of voters are mobilised so that the number that we’ve been boasting about, the number that has always been the highest in all elections, is not only repeated but more than tripled compared to previous numbers,” he said.

 

Lalong, deputy chairman of the A4A Board of Trustees, said northern Nigeria remained critical to determining electoral outcomes.

 

He said the group was committed not only to securing victory for Tinubu but also to improving on the region’s previous electoral contribution.

 

“We know that without the north, nobody can win an election in Nigeria. That’s why we won elections with the north. What we are doing is not only winning elections, but improving on what we gave him before,” Lalong said.

 

Responding, Yilwatda dismissed suggestions that northern Nigeria was opposed to Tinubu, pointing to the participation of former governors, legislators and other influential political figures in the group as evidence of continued support.

 

He urged A4A to expand its public engagement, including through a proposed press conference involving prominent northern political leaders to communicate their support for the president’s re-election.

 

The APC chairman also defended the administration’s record on infrastructure, citing major road projects and economic initiatives in northern Nigeria as evidence of its commitment to the region.

 

POINTS AT ISSUE

1. The inclusion of prominent opposition politicians, including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo, and Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo, in the revised 2027 Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) highlights the cross-party alliances forming around President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign.

These politicians have different party affiliations and political backgrounds, but their appointments place them within the ruling party’s campaign structure ahead of the 2027 general election.

Wike is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Soludo belongs to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Adeleke is a member of the Accord Party, while Dankwambo, a former governor, is a PDP senator representing Gombe North.

Their inclusion raises questions about what their political networks, governing experience, and regional influence could contribute to Tinubu’s re-election bid.

2. Nyesom Wike: Campaign Coordinator in Rivers and the FCT

Wike’s appointment places him in charge of campaign coordination in Rivers State, where he served as governor from 2015 to 2023, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where he currently serves as minister.

3. Ademola Adeleke: Osun State Campaign Coordinator

Adeleke’s appointment is significant because he won re-election as Osun State governor in August 2026 on the Accord Party ticket. Before becoming governor in 2022, he represented Osun West in the Senate.

4. Chukwuma Soludo: Anambra State Campaign Coordinator

Soludo’s inclusion provides the APC campaign with a link to a governor whose political base is rooted in APGA rather than the ruling party.