RismadarVoice Reporters
September 18, 2026
President Bola Tinubu may intervene in the growing disagreement between Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2027 general elections.
A senior presidential aide, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly, said Tinubu was expected to engage the two sides in an effort to resolve their differences.
According to the aide, the meeting could take place in France before the end of the week, where the President is currently on vacation.
The disagreement centres largely on Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, which the former Rivers State governor has been promoting as a platform to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election while allowing members of opposition parties to retain their political affiliations.
Wike, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party despite serving in the APC-led Federal Government, has maintained that supporting Tinubu for president does not require politicians to support APC candidates in governorship and legislative elections.
He has also said the coalition is not affiliated with the APC and that the PDP remains free to field candidates in the 2027 elections.
The position has drawn opposition from APC governors, led by Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Hope Uzodimma.
Following a meeting in Abuja, the governors said they would not participate in, support or endorse any political arrangement capable of weakening the APC, affecting its candidates or undermining Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Uzodimma said the governors’ campaign commitment would remain focused on APC candidates across the various levels of the 2027 elections.
The disagreement has since widened, with APC leaders in the South-East backing the governors and rejecting Wike’s coalition.
In a joint statement signed by APC National Vice Chairman, South-East, Ijeomah Arodiogbu, and the party chairmen in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, the leaders called on Wike to withdraw his criticisms of the governors.
They said the APC would resist attempts to weaken its structures in the region and declared support for the party’s candidates in the 2027 elections.
Report gathered quoted two APC leaders as saying the disagreement also involves wider political calculations, including the 2031 political landscape, the leadership of the 11th National Assembly and the contest for elective positions where Wike’s coalition could support candidates opposed to some APC governors and their allies.
The concerns have raised questions among party stakeholders about how the dispute could affect the coordination of political activities ahead of 2027.
An APC presidential campaign spokesperson, Ima Niboro, has separately urged Wike and the APC governors to end their public exchange, describing the disagreement as a dispute between political allies who ultimately support Tinubu but differ over how that support should be organised.
Former House Minority Leader, Farouk Adamu-Aliyu, has also criticised Wike’s involvement in APC affairs.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Adamu-Aliyu said the APC appreciated Wike’s role in the political developments that preceded the 2023 presidential election but argued that Wike should not use his support for Tinubu to influence the internal affairs of the ruling party.
He noted that Wike is not an APC member and said the party would not allow him to use its structures to establish a separate political platform.
Adamu-Aliyu also called for greater restraint in public exchanges, saying political disagreements should be handled internally rather than through public confrontations.
Against the backdrop of the escalating disagreement, the presidential aide said Tinubu was expected to intervene and seek a resolution between Wike and the APC governors.
The aide said the President regarded both sides as political actors working toward his broader political objectives and would seek to prevent them from operating at cross-purposes.
However, whether such an intervention will produce an agreement between Wike’s coalition and the APC governors remains to be seen.
For now, Wike continues to defend the Rainbow Coalition as a vehicle for supporting Tinubu, while the APC governors insist that their political mobilisation for 2027 must remain centred on the party and its candidates.
