Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has described governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as “smart like the 419” but “politically lazy” following their rejection of the proposed Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Wike made the remarks during an interview with ARISE News on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, while responding to the position of the APC Governors’ Forum that its members would not support political arrangements capable of weakening the party or undermining President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. (Arise News)
The dispute follows a meeting of APC governors in Abuja on September 14, where the Progressive Governors’ Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, said its members would support only official APC candidates at all levels in the 2027 elections.
Uzodimma said the governors would not participate in, support or endorse any alliance that could undermine Tinubu’s re-election, weaken the APC or adversely affect its candidates. (Premium Times Nigeria)
Wike, however, rejected the suggestion that he had approached the APC Governors’ Forum to negotiate an alliance.
“There’s no day I went to the Governors’ Forum to align with Rainbow Coalition,” Wike said.
He added that he had never approached the APC forum to negotiate an alliance and argued that the governors’ response was misplaced because the coalition was not an APC initiative.
‘Smart Like the 419’
Reacting directly to the governors’ declaration, Wike questioned the political reasoning behind their position.
“When I see the people who had that press conference, they are smart like the 419. They are smart like the 419, but they are politically lazy,” he said.
Wike argued that the governors had not adequately understood the distinction between supporting Tinubu’s presidential re-election and supporting APC candidates in every other election.
He has maintained that his Rainbow Coalition is intended to mobilise support for Tinubu across political parties, rather than replace the APC or prevent other parties from fielding candidates.
In a statement issued through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Wike reiterated that his support was specifically for Tinubu’s re-election and did not amount to an agreement that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would withdraw from other electoral contests. (Punch Newspapers)
“The rainbow coalition has nothing to do with the APC,” Wike said, describing it as a platform through which politicians from different parties could mobilise support for the President.
Wike Recalls the 2023 Election
Wike also referred to the 2023 elections to argue that Nigerian voters can support candidates from different political parties during elections held on the same day.
He specifically cited Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu states, where he said voters supported APC candidates in some National Assembly contests while voting for other parties in the presidential election.
In Imo State, Wike questioned how APC candidates could win two Senate seats while Tinubu received a significantly smaller share of the state’s presidential vote.
“Is it saying that the people of Imo State were not confused or they were confused?” he asked.
He similarly pointed to Ebonyi, where APC candidates won all three senatorial seats while Tinubu did not win the presidential election in the state. Channels Television also reported Wike’s reference to the voting patterns in Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi as evidence that voters can split their choices between presidential and legislative contests. (Channels Television)
His argument is that political parties and politicians should not assume that voters will automatically vote for candidates from the same party across every contest.
Exchange With Hope Uzodimma
Wike also directed part of his criticism at Uzodimma, who currently chairs the APC Governors’ Forum.
He recalled Uzodimma’s political position during the 2022 APC presidential primary, saying the Imo governor supported former Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
Wike contrasted that with the decision of the five governors who formed the G5 during the 2023 presidential election to support Tinubu.
According to Wike, the G5 governors did not negotiate an alliance with the APC before backing Tinubu.
He said their decision was based partly on their belief that the presidency should return to the South after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office.
“When in 2023 we said we were going to support Tinubu, people like Hope never knew that it would affect the President’s election,” Wike said.
Wike was one of the five governors who constituted the G5 during the 2023 election period, alongside former governors Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu and Seyi Makinde.
Wike Maintains Support for Tinubu
Despite the dispute with APC governors, Wike again stated that he remains committed to supporting Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
He stressed that his support for the President does not mean he has joined the APC.
“I have never won a side with APC. I have no business for that. Mr President appointed me,” he said.
Wike has previously said that he remains a PDP member while serving as a minister in the APC-led Federal Government.
The PDP has also publicly backed Wike’s right to support Tinubu while remaining a member of the opposition party. (Premium Times Nigeria)
APC Governors Maintain Their Position
The APC Governors’ Forum, meanwhile, has maintained that its political structure will remain focused on APC candidates.
Uzodimma said the governors’ campaign commitment would be exclusively to APC candidates and that the party’s campaign structure would be aligned with Tinubu’s re-election campaign and the broader objectives of the APC. (Premium Times Nigeria)
The governors’ position has effectively exposed a disagreement over how support for Tinubu should operate in the 2027 elections.
Wike’s position is that politicians from different parties can work together to support the President while their respective parties continue to field candidates in other contests.
The APC Governors’ Forum, on the other hand, says its members will remain committed to APC candidates at all levels.
The disagreement has therefore become another point of political tension ahead of the 2027 elections, particularly over the relationship between presidential politics and contests for governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and state assembly seats.
As the 2027 political season develops, the dispute between Wike and the APC governors highlights the increasingly complex alliances and competing political interests emerging ahead of the elections. (Punch Newspapers)
