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The APC Grassroots Governance Organisation has warned the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, against what it described as attempts to create division within the All Progressives Congress ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The group also defended the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, amid the escalating disagreement between Wike and APC governors over the minister’s proposed Rainbow Coalition.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the organisation commended Mr Uzodimma and the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for what it described as their leadership and commitment to the APC.
The group said Mr Uzodimma had remained committed to protecting the interests of President Bola Tinubu, the APC and its candidates.
It also accused Wike of attempting to isolate Mr Uzodimma and portray him as being in conflict with the party.
“We have sadly noted that what the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has attempted in recent days is clear: to isolate Governor Uzodimma, Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, and set him against the party,” the statement said.
“Governor Uzodimma has done nothing to warrant this personal campaign. We thank him for refusing to descend to that level. The party is bigger than any individual quarrel.”
The development comes amid a growing disagreement between Wike and APC governors over the Rainbow Coalition, which the minister has said is intended to mobilise support for President Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
The Progressive Governors Forum recently resolved that APC governors would not support any political arrangement capable of undermining the party or its candidates.
Mr Uzodimma, who announced the position after a meeting of APC governors in Abuja, said the governors’ campaign commitment would remain with the President and candidates sponsored by the APC.
Wike, however, rejected the governors’ interpretation of his political activities.
The minister said he had never approached the Progressive Governors Forum seeking an alliance and insisted that his support was specifically for President Tinubu’s re-election.
In a recent interview with ARISE NEWS, Wike said the Rainbow Coalition was not an attempt to work with APC governors or take over the party’s structures.
“There is no day I went to the Governors’ Forum to align with any rainbow coalition,” he said, according to ARISE NEWS.
“I have never sat with the APC Progressive Governors’ Forum.”
Wike has also argued that supporting Tinubu for president does not require him to support APC candidates in governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and state assembly elections.
His position has deepened the disagreement with APC governors, who contend that supporting the President while backing candidates on other political platforms could create competing interests during the 2027 elections.
But the APC Grassroots Governance Organisation said the distinction was unacceptable.
According to the group, the Rainbow Coalition was neither an organ of the APC nor an official campaign structure of the ruling party.
“We reiterate that the Rainbow Coalition is not the APC. It is not an APC organ. It is not an APC campaign structure. It does not speak for APC governors, APC candidates, or APC members,” it said.
The organisation alleged that attempts to blur the distinction between the coalition and the APC could confuse party members and voters.
“Any attempt to blur that line is deliberate. It is meant to make ordinary members believe that a cross-party arrangement and the APC are one and the same. They are not,” the statement said.
The group also questioned Wike’s continued membership of the Peoples Democratic Party while supporting the re-election of an APC president.
It argued that Wike should not seek to determine how APC governors and candidates conduct their campaigns while remaining outside the ruling party.
“A man who still remains in the PDP, who insists he will not join the APC, and who now seeks to dictate how APC governors should campaign, cannot claim to have the President’s interest at heart,” it said.
“Support for Mr President cannot be separated from support for the party that produced him and the candidates running on that same ticket.”
The group further questioned what it described as Wike’s political history, asking whether he would have supported Tinubu in 2023 if he had been offered the vice-presidential slot.
“Wike himself was a PDP governor. He should answer a simple question: if he had been offered the vice-presidency in 2023, would he have worked with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu?” it asked.
The organisation said there was no need for APC governors to become part of a political structure that was outside the party and could field candidates against APC candidates in the 2027 elections.
It said the position already taken by the Progressive Governors Forum was consistent with party discipline and internal democracy.
“The Progressive Governors Forum has already spoken with one voice: APC governors will campaign for the President and for every APC candidate at every level. That is the correct position. That is party democracy,” it said.
“No minister, no coalition, and no personal network has the authority to rewrite it.”
The group subsequently called on Wike to stop what it described as attacks against Mr Uzodimma and attempts to create parallel political structures around the APC.
“Stop the insults. Stop the attempt to pit the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum against the party. Stop presenting a non-APC platform as if it were an APC alliance,” it said.
The organisation insisted that its loyalty remained with President Tinubu, the APC and candidates officially sponsored by the party.
“Our loyalty is to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the All Progressives Congress, and to every candidate duly sponsored by the party,” it said.
The latest statement adds to the widening political disagreement surrounding Wike’s Rainbow Coalition and the APC governors’ insistence that the party’s structures and candidates should remain distinct from any cross-party arrangement.
Wike, meanwhile, has maintained that his coalition is focused on mobilising support for Tinubu’s presidential bid and is not affiliated with the APC.
His spokesman, Lere Olayinka, said the coalition was a platform for politicians from different parties supporting the President and his administration, while stressing that Wike had never promised to prevent the PDP from fielding candidates in other elections.
The disagreement has consequently evolved beyond the question of whether Wike supports Tinubu, with the central dispute now focusing on whether support for the President should also extend to APC candidates contesting other positions in the 2027 elections.
