2027: Join APC if you want to back Tinubu, Zamfara gov tells Wike

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Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has told the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to either join the All Progressives Congress or quit the Rainbow Coalition, insisting that he cannot support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election while backing candidates of other parties in the 2027 elections.

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Lawal stated this in an interview with Channels Television’s Inside Sources on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

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The governor said the position of APC governors on Wike’s cross-party political platform remained unchanged, despite the minister’s repeated defence of the coalition.

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He said Wike should make his political allegiance clear ahead of the 2027 elections.

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“Our message is very, very clear: Be on one side. You can’t be in two sides. If you’re in APC, please come out and support APC. Not you’re supporting APC here and you’re supporting other political parties somewhere else. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not done anywhere.

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“And that is why we maintain our stand, and it is very clear—the message is very clear. He can speak, he can say whatever he wants to say, but our position has been very, very clear: APC all the way from head to toe,” Lawal said.

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Asked if the governors were asking Wike to join the APC, Lawal replied, “Exactly. What’s the essence?”

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He added that he would raise the matter with Tinubu, saying Wike’s political position needed to be clearly defined.

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“It’s something that I will take up with the President when he comes back. So, let there be a very, very clear line where this guy belongs to. It’s either he’s in APC or he’s out. It’s simple. And I go with my brothers, the governors,” Lawal said.

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The dispute centres on Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party platform through which the minister has been mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election while maintaining that political parties should remain free to field candidates for governorship and legislative elections.n

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Wike has repeatedly said his support for Tinubu does not amount to an endorsement of APC candidates in other contests.n

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In a statement issued earlier this month, Wike said he would support Tinubu for the presidency while the Peoples Democratic Party would remain free to contest governorship, National Assembly and state House of Assembly elections. He also said the Rainbow Coalition had nothing to do with the APC.

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The minister subsequently defended the coalition, saying its objective was to mobilise people from different political platforms to support Tinubu’s re-election. He also questioned the opposition of APC governors to the arrangement, citing the role of the G5 governors in the 2023 presidential election.

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The APC governors, however, have maintained that they would not support any political arrangement capable of weakening the party or its candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.

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The disagreement has since widened into a dispute over political structures for the 2027 elections, with the governors objecting to a platform that could support Tinubu at the presidential level while backing candidates outside the APC in governorship and legislative contests.

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Lawal also responded to Wike’s description of some APC governors as lazy, saying the FCT minister knew the people he was referring to.

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“Well, I mean, he knows the people he’s referring to, honestly. As for me, I mean, you can’t say that in Zamfara State. The difference is very, very clear. I invite anybody to come and see what we’re doing in Zamfara State,” he said.

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