Wike accuses Imo and Kwara governors of working against him after 2023 strategy
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has accused the governors of Imo and Kwara states, Senator Hope Uzodinma and Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, of working against him and failing to repay political support he says he once gave them.
Speaking at a media chat in Port Harcourt, Wike said the Kwara governor had led a campaign against him and that he had confronted him. He claimed Abdulrazaq accused him of sponsoring rival candidates and ought instead to be grateful that aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) figures found a platform in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rather than joining an anti-Tinubu coalition.
He also recalled that the Imo governor once declined to back him despite earlier help. Uzodinma declined comment when contacted. Sources close to APC governors said Wike’s National Rainbow Coalition risked confusing voters and cutting President Bola Tinubu’s votes, because the coalition is fielding PDP candidates for National Assembly seats on the same day as the presidential poll.
Wike said he and allies worked in 2023 to deny then PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar South-East support by backing Peter Obi, in order to block Atiku, whom he called the man truly controlling that race. He predicted Tinubu would take at least 25 per cent in every northern state in 2027 and that Atiku would fail to reach 10 per cent in many southern states.
If Tinubu loses, Wike said, he would be the first politician the opposition would come after. He dismissed Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku’s running mate, as unfit to be vice president, alleging he once shut down courts in Rivers, and accused the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) of acting like a political party at its recent conference.
On subsidy revenue, Wike said the president has no power to tell states or councils how to spend their share and that Peter Obi should ask sub-nationals what they have done with the extra money. He praised the subsidy decision as one previous presidents avoided.
The interview is a map of debts, threats and vote arithmetic rather than a policy paper. APC governors see the Rainbow Coalition as a split ticket that rural voters may not parse. Wike sees 2023 tactics as proof that structure beats noise. Whether those two readings can sit inside one ruling-party project is now a problem for the people who have to put candidates on the ballot in 2027.
