ABUJA, Nigeria — Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has challenged Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike to formally join the All Progressives Congress, APC, if he intends to campaign for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election while participating in the cross-party Rainbow Coalition.
Lawal said Wike, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, should make his political allegiance clear rather than support Tinubu at the presidential level while backing candidates from other parties in other races.
“Our message is very very clear, be on one side, you can’t be on two sides,” Lawal told Channels Television during an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, September 24, 2026.
“If you are in APC, please come out and support the APC, not you are supporting APC here and you are supporting some other political parties somewhere else.”
Asked whether APC governors were effectively asking Wike to join the party, Lawal replied, “exactly”.
“It’s either he is in APC or he is out, simple,” the governor said.
APC Governors Reject Cross-Party Arrangement
The disagreement follows a decision by the Progressive Governors Forum, the umbrella organisation for APC governors, not to support political arrangements that could weaken the party or disadvantage its candidates in the 2027 elections.
Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State and chairman of the forum, said after a September meeting that APC governors would support Tinubu as well as the party’s candidates at other levels.
“The forum unanimously resolved that its members will not participate in, support, or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the re-election of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels,” Uzodimma said.
Lawal said the governors had not changed that position.
“We maintain our stand and the message is very clear,” he said. “He can speak, he can say whatever he wants to say, but our position has been very clear, APC all the way from head to toe.”
Lawal, who was elected governor on the PDP platform in 2023, “defected to the APC” in March, citing divisions and legal disputes within his former party.
He said he intended to discuss Wike’s political position with Tinubu.
“Let there be a clear line where this guy belongs to,” Lawal said.
Wike Says Coalition Is About Tinubu, Not APC
Wike has maintained that the Rainbow Coalition is designed to mobilise support across party lines for Tinubu’s re-election and is not an APC organisation.
The former Rivers State governor said earlier this month that his support for Tinubu did not mean the PDP should refrain from fielding candidates for governorship, National Assembly, and state House of Assembly elections.
“What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the reelection of the President,” Wike said in a statement reported by Channels Television.
“I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates to contest governorship, National Assembly and States House of Assembly elections.”
Wike has also said the coalition has “nothing to do with the APC” and that Tinubu is aware of his political activities.
The dispute therefore centres on whether support for Tinubu’s presidential campaign can operate separately from support for APC candidates in state and legislative elections.
APC governors say their political structure should support the party across the ballot. Wike maintains that politicians from other parties can support Tinubu while continuing to back their own parties in other contests.
