‘Wike Will Be In High Demand If He Pulls Out Of APC’ – Jibrin Warns Governors

House of Representatives member representing Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has cautioned the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) against losing Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, ahead of the 2027 election.

The PGF, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, strongly opposed Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, which they claimed poses a clear threat to governors and their candidates across the House of Representatives and State Assemblies ahead of the upcoming general elections.

Naija News reports that Jibrin, speaking on Arise News on Monday, said other political parties will scramble for Wike if he withdraws his support for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Jibrin maintained that APC needs Wike and urged APC governors to negotiate with the Minister, just as President Tinubu did during the 2023 election.

According to the APC chieftain, Wike has worked far more than expected for the ruling party and must not be allowed to leave now, when the President still needs him for his re-election.

He said, “Somebody like Wike will continue to be Wike in and out of office. He has qualities like the President. The President today you take him out as the President, he would still continue to maintain his relevance.

“After all, he was out of office for 16, 17 years, and his relevance was intact. Wike is that sort of a person, so Wike will be in demand all the time.

“For the fact that we had Wike in 2023, there is no need for any renewal. Automatically, for goodness’ sake, APC needs Wike, and I just want to be a bit subtle; I would have said much more than he needs us.

“Because today, if he pulls out of the APC, he’ll be in high demand all over the country, and that’s why I’ve been saying, let our governors. I love our governors; some of them weren’t happy about my intervention, but I took time to explain to them that, look, what you need to do with Wike is to negotiate with Wike.

“If the President of the country hadn’t negotiated with Wike and brought Wike on board today, there would have been a Rainbow Coalition in this country against APC. So, if the President will understand that, let me negotiate with this man because he has value, he has something to bring to the table, governors should follow suit.

“You just have to approach it in a pragmatic manner, and you see, the cases of the states are different. They are not the same. They are not uniform. That was why I was shocked. I’m choosing my words carefully. I don’t want the governors to say I’m hard on them.

“My relationship with them is intact. But I believe that the models they adopted by going to do the press conference just to hit hard on Wike. I believe that it’s wrong because all the states, their cases are peculiar; they’re different cases, and there’s nothing wrong with going into discussion with Wike.

“Anything that I see can pose a danger to the re-election of the President, I will always intervene.”