*Says “Wike’s Candidates Are Challenging APC Governors’ Preferred Choices In Kwara, Gombe And Imo”
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/NBBSPIDEL.png")
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-Summer-IDRI-Masterclass.jpg")
Journalist and political analyst, Mr. Babajide Kolade-Otitoju, has traced the decision of governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to distance themselves from the rainbow coalition to a series of direct contests in which the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike, is backing candidates against the preferred successors of sitting governors.
The APC Governors Forum had resolved that its members would not support any arrangement capable of undermining the party, weakening its structures, or affecting its candidates, and said they remain committed to the party and its political structure for the 2027 elections.
Asked why the governors are uncomfortable with a minister who has consistently declared his support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Kolade-Otitoju, speaking on a journalists’ discussion programme, said the answer lies not in the presidential race at all but in the governorship contests that follow it.
“There are a number of reasons for that,” he said, before setting out three states in which he says the minister has fielded a direct challenge.
On Kwara, he said the minister is backing a candidate brought forward to challenge the person the state governor has produced as the party’s candidate. “So this is direct confrontation that is to take place,” he said.
On Gombe, he said the sitting governor has put forward a man whose surname is Gwamna, observing wryly that the word means governor in Hausa. “So he has brought a man who wants to be governor and his name is governor,” he said.
He continued: “Now Wike has brought a different person, the former Minister of Communications. Pantami is his candidate in Gombe. That’s another direct confrontation. The governor has a different person.”
On Imo State, he said the minister is supporting a PDP candidate who is not the person the governor is backing. “He already has someone that he is backing to be governor in that place, and that person is different from the person that Hope is backing.”
The analyst said the minister’s method has been to gather politicians who lost out in the ruling party’s primaries.
“What Wike has done is aggrieved people, aggrieved people who came out of the APC primaries. They are people that he has brought closer to himself and given them the wings to fly.”
He cited a defection in Kwara in support: “So you see that in Kwara, Saliu Mustapha, the senator representing Kwara Central, he has defected to the PDP.”
He noted that the platform in question is the faction of the party recognised in law, and said commentators had for a long time treated a rival faction as authentic notwithstanding that it had lost in court.
The analyst then advanced what he described as the strategic logic of the arrangement, arguing that the minister is denying the leading opposition candidate a pool of disaffected politicians.
“So what Wike is doing is his best to stop Atiku from winning the election, because if these people were not harvested by him, they would have gone to the other side. Do you get the point I’m making? And he is the President’s supporter.”
“But if he left them to go to Atiku, it will strengthen them. They will galvanise support for Atiku and weaken the President’s chances. So in a way he’s indirectly still working for the President, and he has not denied that.”
On the governors’ motivation, Kolade-Otitoju was blunt, describing their position as enlightened self-interest.
“These governors see him as a threat to their desire to supplant themselves with their preferred candidates. And those preferred candidates are the candidates that won the primary election that they pretended not to be involved in. Even though they were not physically seen to be doing it, we all know that these were the people that they supported.”
He said the resulting position is a straightforward conflict of interest.
“All of you are supporting the President, but you are also working against their own interest, because they want APC to win in that state. Now you brought candidates against APC in those states. You don’t expect them to be giving you a pat on the back or pumping hands with you when you have brought people who could potentially stop them from being able to produce their successors. So it is a conflict of interest now that is at play.”
While defending the minister’s right to operate as he has, Kolade-Otitoju was sharply critical of his public conduct, saying the quarrel was avoidable and that the minister struck first.
“There is no point fighting Wike. The only problem is that Wike, in his media chats, says things that he ought not to say. That’s my query with him. When he attacked the governor, there was no need for it.”
“In that media chat, for example, the governor hardly talks to anybody. He doesn’t grant interviews. He just goes his way. But you went to a media chat to take him on.”
He pressed the point with an illustration: “If a governor has someone that he wants to become the next governor of his state, and you have brought a person to challenge that person and probably even defeat that person, you expect him to be happy with you? When they are saying that you brought a threat?”
He said the same restraint should have applied in Imo: “I know that they’ve been having issues, the uneasy relationship between him and Hope especially. But I believe that is their problem. I do not talk about it, but I knew that they had issues. Now, Hope has never come out publicly to say it. We all know they have an uneasy relationship, but it is still Wike who came out to openly attack them. So that’s why they too have come out to speak in this manner.”
His prescription was that each side stay in its own lane: “There’s no reason for them to openly show the divisions amongst them. Allow Wike to run his thing, and Wike should not interfere in the internal affairs of the APC. Remain in your PDP, but don’t interfere in the internal affairs of the APC. And there’s no need for you to be attacking key people in the APC, because when you do that, they will fight back.”
The analyst was equally critical of those in the ruling party demanding that the minister formalise his position by joining them, describing the demand as bad politics.
“I don’t think that they need to be saying what they are saying, because I don’t see that he is not interested in the President. It doesn’t have to be that he belongs to your party. It is bad politics, in my view, for them to be saying you should join their party.”
He drew a comparison with practice elsewhere: “Even in the US, people come into an administration despite not belonging to that administration. We even see presidents who headhunt and bring people from the other side.”
He added that the criticism is self-defeating given what the minister contributes: “There has to be a limit to which you can criticise, even insult him, or say that he doesn’t belong to our party, when he’s doing some things in the interest of your party. Even his performance in FCT is likely to help your party, if people vote for parties based on tangible achievements that they can see. So how come you are saying he should leave your party? You can’t attack him too much, because you must always remember that he is supporting your principal.”
Asked whether the disagreement could place the President in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between the loyalty of the governors and the political network of the minister, a co-panellist said the President’s record suggests otherwise.
“One thing you cannot take away from Mr President is that he is a master strategist. He knows your strength. He knows the strength of the people who are in his party. And I’m sure he’ll be able to manage that, since the major thing that they are all fighting for, or planning towards in 2027, is the return of Mr President.”
He recalled a precedent from the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who on a visit to a state governed by an opposition party told the audience that when it came to the presidency they should vote for his party, but that in their state affairs they should choose whoever they wished.
“So it is left for everybody to sell their candidate, to sell what you have done. I’m sure if you have done a good job, it will be a plus for your candidate.”
Asked whether the arrangement could split the President’s base at state level, the panel pointed to the separation of the polls: “No. The elections are on different days. The governorship election is happening two weeks later.”
The analyst added that the minister has never concealed his position, and that those he has backed are expected to deliver for the President regardless of platform.
“Wike has already said that yes, I’m PDP. I know we are not in a position to win an election now. And he has declared that it is for the President. So in those states, even the people that he has chosen, he expects them to work for the President.”
He noted further that in the state where the strategy is most developed, it operates in the ruling party’s favour: “He’s not asking anyone to do an alliance with him. In Rivers State, where the rainbow coalition is most effective, it is the APC candidate that Wike is backing.”
The panel predicted that the matter will be resolved privately rather than through further public exchanges.
“I think that the President at some point will call them and say, gentlemen, use your heads. Behave yourselves, because you are in a critical period,” Kolade-Otitoju said.
“Any misstep, any mistake, can cost the President dearly, and they must know that this is the right thing to do. Wike has to stop this attitude of abusing everybody. There’s no reason for that. Why should you abuse Hope, for example? Why should you attack?”
Asked whether the minister would listen, Kolade-Otitoju used the question to address the accusation that he is himself partial, recalling occasions on which he has criticised the minister publicly.
“What is it today? I’ve been advising. People who always say that I support Wike, such people are usually deaf when I criticise him. In fact, you remember his matter, when I said, look, you should act your age. Why are you exchanging words?”
“They don’t see it when I say that to him. When I criticise him strongly, they don’t see it. But they will say he’s a Wike person. No, I’m not anybody’s person. I can tell you to your face that you are wrong.”
He said he had applied the same standard to the other side, recalling an earlier occasion on which he criticised a comment by the ruling party’s national secretary.
[A MUST HAVE] Evidence Act Demystified With Recent And Contemporary Cases And Materials
Available now for NGN 40,000 at ASC Publications, 10, Boyle Street, Onikan, Lagos. Beside High Court, TBS. Email publications@ayindesanni.com or WhatsApp +2347056667384. Purchase Link: https://paystack.com/buy/evidence-act-complete-annotation
______________________________________________________________________ “Enhance Legal Practice With Authoritative Reports” — Alexander Payne Offers Comprehensive Law Reports, Spanning Over A Century Of Nigerian Jurisprudence
Interested buyers are encouraged to place their orders and enquiries via:
0704 444 4777, 0704 444 4999, 0818 199 9888
Website: www.alexandernigeria.com
The book also examines Nigeria's legal ecosystem, focusing on the LPELR and NBA AI Guidelines. As a bonus, every purchase comes with a FREE eBook titled: How to Use the AI Features in LegalPedia and LawPavilion.
Ohio Books Ltd praises the publication, stating:
"....this is the only Nigerian book I know of on the topic."
How to Order:
📞 Call, Text, or WhatsApp: 08034917063 | 07055285878
📧 Email: benadigwe1@gmail.com
🌎 Website: www.benadigwe.com
Ebook Version: Access it directly online at https://selar.com/prv626
Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACIarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
______________________________________________________________________
