Wike won’t help state elections, the FCT minister says, drawing a line between Tinubu’s 2027 race and local contests
Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former governor of Rivers State, said on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, that he would not help politicians win elections in their own states.
Also read: Borno Rep Balami Quits APC for Accord Ticket
The line came in a statement issued by Lere Olayinka, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media.
“I won’t be the one to help people to win elections in their states. 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,” Nyesom Wike said.
He said his 2027 priority was to mobilise for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and that he had never promised the Peoples Democratic Party would stand down in governorship, National Assembly or state assembly races. “What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the re-election of the President. I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates.” After a presidential win, he added, “we can all go and face elections in our states.”
On the rainbow coalition, he said it was not an All Progressives Congress organ. “Rainbow coalition has nothing to do with the APC. 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 G5 governors backed President Bola Tinubu in 2023 without first sitting with the APC.
He pointed to 2023 splits in Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi, where voters chose different parties for president and for the legislature.
He asked how the APC took two Imo Senate seats while taking under 15 per cent of the presidential vote there, and how it won National Assembly seats in the South-East on even thinner presidential tallies. “The results showed that voters were capable of separating presidential and state-level elections.”
The statement is a fence around his brand. Nyesom Wike remains a PDP member in office under an APC president.
Also read: Borno Rep Balami Quits APC for Accord Ticket
Allies who want his machinery in their states will hear a closed door. Rivals will hear an opening for PDP tickets. Neither reading is a result. Wike won’t help state elections, he says. He will still be asked, every week until 2027, to prove it.
