Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has drawn a fresh battle line with Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, declaring that he will never support the governor's reported ambition to become President of the Senate in 2027. Wike accused Uzodinma of using his position as Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) to pursue an agenda that could strengthen his own Senate presidency bid. This confrontation comes as the Rainbow Coalition triggers a widening political dispute between Wike and APC governors.
Wike made these remarks on TVC News' Journalists' Hangout on Monday, stressing that his opposition to Uzodinma's Senate presidency ambition was already well known and not a personal matter. "Life or death, I will never support Hope Uzodinma to become the Senate President of Nigeria. Everybody knows that. Nobody should ask me questions about it, it is not personal," Wike said. The declaration represents a significant escalation in the increasingly bitter political exchanges between the two men.
The dispute between Wike and Uzodinma is rooted largely in their opposing positions on the Rainbow Coalition. Wike, a prominent member of the PDP who currently serves in President Bola Tinubu's APC-led administration, has presented the coalition as a cross-party platform for mobilising support for Tinubu's re-election in 2027. He has repeatedly argued that supporting Tinubu for President does not require politicians to abandon their respective parties or prevent those parties from fielding candidates for governorship and legislative elections.
Wike also accused the Imo governor of creating an internal political problem and then resorting to blackmail rather than resolving it. "You cause internal problem for yourself and you do not have the capacity to solve the problem and all you do is to resort to blackmail," he said. The FCT minister further questioned Uzodinma's political emergence in Imo State, referring to the 2019 governorship election in which Uzodinma initially placed fourth before the Supreme Court declared him the winner in January 2020.
The FCT minister linked his opposition to Uzodinma's Senate ambition to the growing movement of politicians who, having lost out in APC nomination battles, have moved towards alternative platforms. He said some of the politicians had found opportunities to contest under other parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with support from structures associated with the Rainbow Coalition. This development could complicate efforts to build the kind of National Assembly bloc that would be necessary for Uzodinma to pursue the Senate presidency.
At a meeting in Abuja last week, the APC governors, under Uzodinma's leadership, rejected any political alliance capable of weakening the ruling party or its candidates in the 2027 elections. The governors said they would not participate in or support any political arrangement that could create divided loyalty within the party or adversely affect APC candidates. Uzodinma said the governors' campaign commitment would remain exclusively with APC candidates at all levels.
The power struggle between Wike and Uzodinma is set to play out in the lead-up to the 2027 general elections, with both men holding significant influence within their respective parties. The outcome of this struggle will likely have implications for the balance of power in Nigeria's National Assembly and the ability of Uzodinma to achieve his reported ambition of becoming Senate President.
Key points
- Wike has declared his opposition to Uzodinma's Senate presidency bid, citing concerns over Uzodinma's use of his position as Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum to advance a personal agenda.
