Nyesom Wike
Abuja — Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has rejected claims that he is positioning himself or his political network to succeed President Bola Tinubu after 2027, insisting that his sole priority remains securing the president’s second term.
The speculation has circulated in recent weeks amid tensions between Wike’s “Rainbow Coalition” and some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors.
Critics and anonymous sources have suggested that Wike, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while serving in the Tinubu administration, is using the coalition to preserve an independent political structure that could aid a PDP resurgence — or personal ambition — in 2031.
Wike has repeatedly and publicly denied any such plan. Speaking on Monday during an interview on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout and in earlier statements, the minister said it was premature and unrealistic to begin calculating for 2031.
“My concern is that the President will be re-elected for the second term. That is my concern. And I made that known from the onset that I was going to support Mr President with all my might and strength,” Wike said.
He dismissed suggestions that the Rainbow Coalition was designed as a vehicle for his own future presidential bid. “So, am I positioning myself… in which of the parties am I positioning myself to?” he asked, adding that political ambitions depend on circumstances that cannot be predicted years in advance. “You have to pray that you are alive. When God keeps you alive, then you begin to say what would be.”
Wike further noted that after a second Tinubu term, the president himself would have a clear interest in who succeeds him, and that he would not work against that interest. “By 2031, Mr President will not run and he will have interest in who will succeed him, and I will not be at loggerhead with his interest,” he stated.
The minister has consistently framed his support as personal to Tinubu rather than an endorsement of the APC as a whole. He has said the Rainbow Coalition is a cross-party platform aimed at mobilising votes for the president’s re-election and has no formal affiliation with the ruling party.
He has also clarified that the PDP remains free to field candidates for governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections in 2027.
In a related interview with the BBC, Wike ruled out contesting against Tinubu in 2027, asking: “Why will I contest against someone I’m working for?”
While some APC governors and political analysts have expressed concern that Wike’s independent network could complicate the ruling party’s 2027 strategy or create leverage for later contests, Wike and his spokesman, Lere Olayinka, have rejected interpretations that the coalition is a long-term succession project.
Olayinka has argued that a successful second Tinubu term would complete eight years of southern presidency by 2031, making another southern candidacy difficult under Nigeria’s informal rotational arrangement.
The debate continues against the backdrop of early manoeuvring for the 2027 general elections, with Wike maintaining that any discussion of 2031 remains speculative and secondary to the immediate task of re-electing President Tinubu.
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