2027: Wike fires back at APC governors, says ‘I won’t help anyone win their state’

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that he will not help any governor or politician win elections in their state, saying politics is local and leaders must earn the support of their people.

Wike stated this while responding to criticisms over his support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, the minister said politicians facing challenges in their states should resolve them instead of using President Tinubu’s re-election campaign to stir public sentiments.

He argued that voting patterns in the 2023 general election showed that Nigerians were capable of making different choices in presidential and legislative elections.

Referring to Imo State, Wike questioned how the APC won two Senate seats under Governor Hope Uzodinma despite the party performing poorly in the presidential election.

He said: “In Imo State under Governor Hope Uzodinma, how did APC win two senate seats in 2023, in an election held the same day with that of the President and APC had less than 15 percent in the presidential election? Was it rainbow coalition? Were the voters confused?

“Was it rainbow coalition that also made APC to win National Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu States where the President did not have ten percent of the 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?”

Wike maintained that politics is no longer about relying on political calculations but about mobilising genuine support from the grassroots.

He said, “politics is no longer about coming from fourth position to be governor, it is about genuinely mobilising support and winning elections from the polling units.”

The FCT minister insisted that his focus remains President Tinubu’s re-election, adding that governors and other politicians should take responsibility for winning elections in their own states.