FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has fired back at APC governors challenging his cross-party “Rainbow Coalition”, accusing them of political laziness and warning them against using President Bola Tinubu’s name to mask problems within their respective states.

Wike spoke during a television interview on Tuesday night, responding to a communique by the APC Governors Forum, which declared that the governors would oppose any political arrangement capable of weakening the party’s candidates or threatening Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.

The minister maintained that his decision to mobilise support for Tinubu does not amount to abandoning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stressing that his political support for the President is separate from the right of political parties to field candidates for governorship and legislative elections.

According to Wike, the governors should confront their own political challenges instead of attributing them to his activities or dragging Tinubu into local political disputes. He cited the 2023 elections in Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu, where APC secured Senate victories despite recording less than 15 per cent of the presidential vote in some of the same states.

Wike also questioned why governors such as Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra, Ademola Adeleke of Osun and Alex Otti of Abia could support or operate within different political arrangements without that preventing their parties from presenting candidates for other elective positions. He separately criticised Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, saying the governor routinely blames him for political difficulties.

He further disclosed that tensions with some APC governors predated his appointment as FCT Minister, recalling opposition to his emergence as minister and earlier disagreements during his tenure as Rivers State governor. Wike insisted that his position remains unchanged: he will support Tinubu’s 2027 re-election while retaining his political affiliation and allowing the PDP to participate fully in other contests.