The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has ruled out taking up the position of Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election.
Wike said he was more interested in securing victory for President Bola Tinubu in his political strongholds than occupying a prominent position in the national campaign structure.
Speaking in Abuja over the weekend, the minister said previous holders of similar campaign positions had suffered political setbacks after failing to retain their states.
He cited the experiences of former governors and campaign directors, including Rotimi Amaechi, Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal and Simon Lalong.
According to Wike, Amaechi, who served as Director-General of the Muhammadu Buhari presidential campaign in 2015 and again in 2019, subsequently lost Rivers State.
He also recalled that Saraki, who headed Atiku Abubakar’s presidential campaign in 2019, lost both Kwara State and his Senate seat.
“In 2019, he was Minister of Transport, he became the DG, and he lost his state too,” Wike said, referring to Amaechi.
On Saraki, he said, “Bukola Saraki was the DG of the Atiku campaign in 2019. He was running around doing ‘articulating’. I called him, ‘Why are you doing articulating?’ Go home!’ He lost his state! Lost his own seat, too!”
Wike said Tambuwal and Lalong also lost their respective states after serving as campaign directors in the 2023 presidential election.
“In 2023, Aminu Tambuwal became DG of Atiku. He lost his state! In the same year, 2023, Lalong was the DG of APC, the present president. He lost his state!”
The FCT minister said the experiences had reinforced his decision to focus on his own political territories rather than seek a national campaign appointment.
“I don’t want to lose my state! I will be in my state. I have two states: FCT and my state. What’s important is that you are able to deliver those two states? So it’s not about being DG. If you’re DG and you don’t win your state, what’s the essence of the DG?” he said.
Wike argued that the ability to deliver electoral victory in one’s political base should be a more important measure of political influence than occupying a campaign position.
“So the battle line is about state. It’s not about being a member of the campaign council. Every politics is local. If you cannot deliver the president in your state, how will you say you want an election?” he said.
The minister, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said his support for Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election was not dependent on membership of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
He explained that he and his political allies had adopted their own strategy to support Tinubu’s emergence.
“When we were fighting for the President to be president in 2023, we were not members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, but we were fighting. So, we had our own strategies on how the president would emerge,” Wike said.
He said the political alliance known as the “Rainbow Coalition”, which brought politicians from different parties together in support of Tinubu in 2023, would remain relevant ahead of the 2027 election.
Wike said the coalition was already taking shape in several states, stressing that membership of the APC campaign council should not be regarded as the determining factor in the outcome of the election.
“Nobody should use that as a yardstick to judge who will be the governor of any state,” he said.
The minister further disclosed that he would personally coordinate the campaign efforts for Tinubu in Rivers State and the FCT.
“Who will be in charge of the Rivers State campaign? There’s nothing like the APC Campaign Director in the Rivers State election. No. I’m the one that’s in charge. I’m also the one that’s in charge of FCT,” he said.
