Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has drawn a clear and unmistakable boundary around his political commitments for 2027, declaring that his support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election does not extend to helping politicians win governorship or legislative battles in their respective states. In a statement issued on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, the former Rivers State governor said his major political objective for the next presidential election is to mobilise support for Tinubu’s second-term bid, and nothing more.
“I won’t be the one to help people to win elections in their states,” Wike declared. “Politics is local, and those having problems in their states should resolve them instead of using the re-election of the President to whip up sentiments.” The statement was a direct response to growing expectations and, in some quarters, pressure from politicians across party lines who had assumed that Wike’s alignment with Tinubu would translate into electoral machinery for their own state-level ambitions. Wike made it clear that such assumptions were misplaced and that his commitment was specific to the presidential contest.
Wike also used the occasion to clarify the nature of the Rainbow Coalition, the political arrangement that has brought together politicians from different parties in support of Tinubu’s return to office. He stressed that the coalition has nothing to do with the All Progressives Congress, describing it instead as a platform for members of different political parties who are satisfied with the President’s performance and willing to mobilise support for his re-election. “The rainbow coalition has nothing to do with the APC,” Wike said. “Rather, it is our own way of mobilising support across political parties for Mr President, who has done well to deserve a second term.” He recalled that he and other members of the G5 governors did not meet with the APC before supporting Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, and that his position for 2027 remains similarly focused on the President alone.
The minister also addressed the question of the Peoples Democratic Party, of which he remains a member. He said he never promised that the PDP would refrain from fielding candidates for governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections in 2027. “What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the re-election of the President,” he said. “I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates to contest governorship, National Assembly and States House of Assembly elections.” He urged political stakeholders to prioritise the presidential election, saying, “After the President must have been re-elected, we can all go and face elections in our states.”
Wike’s argument is anchored in the electoral reality of 2023, which he cited as evidence that Nigerian voters are capable of distinguishing between presidential and state-level contests. He pointed to Imo State, where the APC won two senatorial seats in 2023 despite Tinubu securing less than 15 per cent of the presidential vote in the state. “Was it a rainbow coalition? Were the voters confused?” he asked. He also cited the APC’s victories in National Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states, where Tinubu received less than 10 per cent of the presidential votes. “If in 2023, the voters in Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi voted APC in the senatorial election and voted another party in the presidential election, they won’t be confused in 2027, provided we all support the President genuinely this time,” he said.
The statement comes amid growing political realignments and intensifying manoeuvres ahead of the 2027 general elections. Wike’s position that “politics is local” and that state-level politicians must resolve their own problems rather than using the President’s re-election as a cover for local grievances is a direct challenge to those who have sought to leverage his influence and the President’s name to settle scores within their own states. It also underscores the peculiar nature of Wike’s political identity: a PDP member who has consistently backed an APC President, a former governor who now commands influence in the capital territory, and a politician who has repeatedly demonstrated that his support is transactional, issue-based, and carefully calibrated to serve his own strategic interests.
The clarification is likely to unsettle politicians in several states who had hoped that Wike’s alignment with Tinubu would provide them with access to the President’s political machinery. By publicly limiting the scope of his commitment, Wike has served notice that he will not be a proxy for state-level ambitions and that his support for Tinubu is not a vehicle for others to ride to power. For the President’s re-election campaign, the message is that it must be fought on its own merits, with the President’s record as the central argument, rather than on the promises of state-level political deals. For the opposition, the statement is a reminder that the 2027 contest will be fought at multiple levels, and that voters will have the opportunity to make different choices in different elections.
As the 2027 elections draw closer, Wike’s declaration that his support is for Tinubu and Tinubu alone will likely reshape the calculations of politicians across the country. It clarifies that the Rainbow Coalition is a presidential mobilisation platform, not an electoral alliance for state contests, and that those with local political problems must look elsewhere for solutions. The statement also reaffirms Wike’s reputation as one of Nigeria’s most pragmatic political operators, a man who understands that power is built on clearly defined terms and that the price of support must always be paid in advance. For now, the minister has drawn his line. Whether others will respect it, or test it, remains to be seen.
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