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, OBSERVERS TIMES
The potential pact is being mooted as a counter‑force to the Rainbow Coalition 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, confirmed the development. Musa, a chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and a promoter of the Tinubu Continuity Project, said the option was being considered to protect governors’ political interests in states where Wike’s coalition is seeking to penetrate existing APC structures. He, however, ruled out any plan by the governors to defect to the ADC.
“The electoral fortunes of some APC governors are being threatened by the disruptive activities of Wike’s Rainbow Coalition,” Musa said. “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, a former member of the board of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the governors’ concerns intensified after reports that aggrieved APC leaders and politicians who lost out in the party’s primaries were gravitating towards Wike’s coalition. Their worries were heightened by the timing of the 2027 governorship elections, scheduled for February 6 — barely three weeks after the January 16 presidential election.
“The governors are not entertaining fears that Tinubu will lose the presidential election,” Musa said. “Their fears stem from Wike’s claims that the President had already ceded nine states to his coalition in the governorship and legislative elections. Such claims may appear as political bragging, but in politics you can’t take anything for granted, especially when it concerns elections.”
Musa warned that Wike‑aligned politicians could defect to the APC after winning governorship and legislative elections, recalling recent defections by opposition governors to the ruling party. “We have witnessed a rash of such defections in recent political history. Recall that the incumbent governors of Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Taraba, Enugu, Adamawa, Kano and Rivers all defected from the opposition to the APC,” he said.
According to Musa, APC governors believe they should be free to explore alternative political relationships if Wike can mobilise politicians from different parties against their interests while supporting Tinubu at the presidential level. They have been particularly angered by the Rainbow Coalition’s message in some states urging voters to support Tinubu for president while voting for PDP candidates in other federal and state elections.
Although Musa declined to disclose how many governors were involved, he said Atiku’s ADC was the preferred option among the alternatives being considered, especially in states where the Rainbow Coalition is perceived to threaten established APC structures. The reported moves could deepen internal wrangling within the ruling party, with 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. The FCT Minister publicly criticised Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma over their opposition to his coalition’s mobilisation efforts. Governors’ camp sources also accused Wike of working to project a prominent North‑Central PDP leader — a former head of a federal legislative institution — as a potential presidential candidate while allegedly positioning himself as a running mate for 2031. The speculation has reportedly unsettled some APC leaders in the Northwest and Northeast, who fear being sidelined in 2031 presidential calculations.
During a live television interview on Monday, Wike dismissed reports of Uzodimma’s 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.
