Minister of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared he will never support Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma for President of the Senate in 2027, accusing the governor of using his position to advance his personal political ambitions.
Wike made the declaration on TVC News’ Journalists’ Hangout
on Monday, amid the escalating dispute between him and APC governors over his
Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
The FCT minister, who said some politicians who had lost out
in the APC’s nomination process had found alternative platforms to contest the
2027 elections, said Uzodinma knew that such candidates could ultimately refuse
to support his Senate presidency ambition.
“Now, the other people who they have removed and not given
ticket have found an alternative to run and he knows that if they run and they
win, it means that they are not going to support him to be the Senate president
and that knowing fully well that they are running under Wike’s support of PDP,
they will not support them and of course, life or death, I will never support a
character of Senator 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.
He was reacting to the political dispute surrounding the
Rainbow Coalition, which has increasingly brought him into direct confrontation
with Uzodinma, the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF.
Wike accused Uzodinma of creating an internal political
problem and lacking the capacity to resolve 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 former Rivers State governor also questioned Uzodinma’s
political trajectory, recalling his emergence as Imo governor.
“Hope Uzodinma, who I’ve always said and I tell people.
Maybe, to God be the glory, he became a governor by taking 4th position. To the
glory of God, he became a governor and that is how this country will open her
eyes and say what is going on,” Wike said.
According to Wike, Uzodinma’s second term as Imo governor is
approaching its end and the governor is seeking election to the Senate in 2027
with an eye on becoming Senate President.
“He wants to run for Senate president, and what he does is
to say to his colleagues, that let us be the ones (governors) who will produce
the senators and members of the House of reps and some of the senators, of
course, some of the governors are not experienced, they buy it, thinking that
he is trying to make them powerful, not knowing that he has his own interest
and agenda to become Senate President,” he said.
Wike alleged that some politicians who were denied tickets
by the APC leadership or their state governors had consequently turned to
alternative platforms, including the PDP, with support from his political
structure.
He argued that if those candidates won their elections, they
would not be obliged to support Uzodinma’s ambition to preside over the Senate.
The dispute is unfolding against the backdrop of the Rainbow
Coalition, a political arrangement championed by Wike and involving politicians
across party lines.
Vanguard had reported that the coalition has expanded across
Rivers, Kwara, Gombe and Cross River, with politicians who have fallen out with
APC structures aligning with the arrangement ahead of the 2027 elections.
Wike has consistently maintained that the Rainbow Coalition
is primarily designed to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s
re-election and is not an APC structure. He has also said the PDP can continue
to field candidates for governorship, National Assembly and state Assembly
elections.
The position has brought him into conflict with APC
governors, who, through the Progressive Governors Forum, warned that they would
not support any political arrangement capable of weakening the APC or affecting
its candidates.
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