Strong indications emerged on Tuesday that some aggrieved governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are exploring an alliance with former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The reported potential alliance is being mooted as a counter-force to the Rainbow Coalition being promoted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, ahead of the 2027 elections.
A political source close to one of the governors, Yusuf Musa, who confirmed the development, said the option was being considered as a way of protecting the governors’ political interests in states where Wike’s coalition is seeking to penetrate existing APC structures.
Musa, a chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), and one of the promoters of the Tinubu Continuity Project, however, ruled out any plan by the governors to defect to the ADC.
He said the emerging realignment was being considered because the electoral fortunes of some APC governors were allegedly being threatened by what he described as the “disruptive activities” of Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.
“If President Tinubu and the APC leadership cannot rein in Wike, then what stops the governors whose political future is being threatened from building alternative political relationships outside the ruling party?” Musa asked.
The former member of the Board of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the governors’ concerns had intensified following reports that some aggrieved APC leaders and politicians who lost out in the party’s primaries were increasingly gravitating towards Wike’s coalition.
He said their concerns were further heightened by the timing of the 2027 governorship election, scheduled for February 6, barely three weeks after the January 16 presidential election.
“The governors are not entertaining any fears that Tinubu will win his re-election. However, their fears are rooted in the claims by Wike that the President had already ceded nine states to his coalition in the governorship and legislative elections.
“Such claims may appear as mere political bragging, but no one should dismiss them as cheap talk because, in politics, you can’t take anything for granted, especially when it concerns elections.
“The governors are not unmindful of the fact that Tinubu will not be seeking another election after 2027 and that it would cost him practically nothing to cede some states, as Wike claimed.
“With the fluid nature of Nigerian politics, it would take these Wike-aligned coalition politicians nothing to defect to the APC after winning the 2027 governorship and legislative elections in their respective states.
“We have witnessed a rash of such defections by opposition governors to the ruling APC in Nigeria’s recent political history, so the threats are real. Recall that the incumbent governors of Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Taraba, Enugu, Adamawa, Kano and Rivers had all defected from the opposition to the APC.”
Musa said the APC governors believed they should also be free to explore alternative political relationships if Wike could mobilise politicians from different parties against their interests while simultaneously supporting Tinubu at the presidential level.
The governors are particularly said to be angered by the Rainbow Coalition’s campaign message in their states, urging voters to support Tinubu for president while voting for PDP candidates in other federal and state elections.
Although Musa declined to disclose the number of the aggrieved governors involved, he said Atiku’s ADC was the preferred option among the political alternatives being considered, particularly in states where the Rainbow Coalition is perceived to be threatening established APC structures.
The reported moves could further deepen the internal wrangling within the ruling APC, with the governors potentially seeking to leverage ADC structures and Atiku’s political network as a counterweight to Wike’s cross-party mobilisation.
Tension has been building between Wike and some APC governors, with the FCT Minister publicly criticising Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzodimma, over their opposition to his coalition’s mobilisation efforts.
The governors’ camp has also accused Wike of allegedly working to project a prominent North-Central PDP leader as a potential presidential candidate, with the FCT Minister allegedly positioning himself as running mate for the 2031 election cycle.
Wike is consequently believed by the governors’ camp to be mobilising the PDP leader, a former head of a federal legislative institution, to weaken existing APC structures in the North-Central state.
The speculation has reportedly unsettled some APC leaders in the Northwest and Northeast, who fear they could be sidelined in the party’s 2031 presidential calculations.
Wike, during a live television interview on Monday, also dismissed Uzodimma’s reported senatorial ambition, saying the South-East could not secure either the Senate Presidency or Vice Presidency in the coming dispensation.
Efforts to obtain reactions from the APC leadership and the Progressive Governors Forum were unsuccessful as of press time, while the Atiku camp declined to confirm or deny the reported discussions.
