2027: Tinubu to name Wike as campaign coordinator for Rivers, FCT

President Bola Tinubu is set to define a clear role for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, in his 2027 re-election campaign, with Wike expected to coordinate activities in Rivers State and the FCT.

The emerging arrangement is designed to leverage Wike’s political network without formally placing him inside the hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a party he has repeatedly said he does not belong to.

Sources familiar with the developing campaign structure said the move is also aimed at separating key power blocs and avoiding clashes among top leaders of the campaign.

Wike has insisted that he does not need to be a member of the APC or hold a position in the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, to work for Tinubu’s re-election. He has also dismissed suggestions that he is seeking to be Director General of the council, saying his concern is to deliver Rivers and the FCT.

According to sources, former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, will serve as Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council, but Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau will not report to him.

Rather than a single chain of command, the emerging framework will give influential figures distinct spheres of responsibility with direct lines within the bigger campaign structure.

The arrangement is part of efforts to accommodate various political blocs without creating overlaps in authority, and it underpins the proposed role for Wike.

Wike recently described himself as the “General Commander of the Political Infantry” and declared that he remains in charge of political structures in Rivers and the FCT.

“You do not need to be governor before you can be in charge. I am the General Commander of the Political Infantry; therefore, I am in charge. So also in FCT. I owe the President to give these two,” he said.

That assertion has brought him into conflict with some APC governors who believe elected governors should retain control of party structures in their states.

Wike has accused some APC governors, specifically Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, of working against him.

He has also promoted the “Rainbow Coalition”, a cross-party arrangement designed to mobilise support for Tinubu beyond the APC structure, arguing that politicians should be free to support the President at the presidential level while backing candidates of their choice in other elections.

But the Progressives Governors Forum rejected the idea. Reading its resolutions a few days ago, its Chairman, Uzodimma, said: “The forum unanimously resolved that its members won’t participate in, support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the reelection of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels.”

“In other words, the forum has no intention of supporting anybody at any level, that’s not an APC candidate because our candidates are being sponsored by our party… Any arrangement that can create confusion, divided loyalty or competing interests will not be entertained,” the governors said.

Wike, however, has maintained that his support for Tinubu remains sacrosanct, noting that he never promised the PDP would not field candidates for governorship, National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly elections, and that Tinubu was aware of the Rainbow Coalition.

Sources said the proposed structure is intended to reduce ambiguity where Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor are in different parties but aligned with the same presidential candidate, by defining Wike’s responsibility around Tinubu’s presidential vote rather than control of the APC’s state organisation.

Meanwhile, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, is being tipped for a prominent spokesperson role in the campaign.

Keyamo served as spokesperson and Director of Public Affairs in Tinubu’s 2023 campaign and previously played a senior communications role in Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election campaign.