Precious Nwonu, Enugu
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said he will not support Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma’s reported ambition to become President of the Senate after the 2027 general elections.
Wike made the declaration on Monday during an appearance on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, amid an escalating disagreement between him and some governors of the All Progressives Congress over political arrangements ahead of the 2027 elections.
The FCT minister also alleged that Uzodimma was seeking to influence the emergence of senators and members of the House of Representatives who could support his reported bid to lead the Senate.
According to Wike, some APC governors were attempting to determine which lawmakers would emerge from the 2027 elections, a move he linked to the reported Senate presidency ambition.
“He wants to run for Senate president, and what he does is to say to his colleagues, let us be the ones, governors, to produce the senators and members of the House of Representatives,” Wike said.
Wike further alleged that some politicians who were denied tickets during the APC nomination process had moved to other political platforms to contest the 2027 elections.
He argued that lawmakers who emerged through alternative platforms would not necessarily be obliged to support Uzodimma’s reported ambition.
The disagreement is unfolding amid tensions over Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party political arrangement he has been promoting ahead of the 2027 elections.
Uzodimma, who chairs the Progressive Governors Forum, has been among the APC governors opposing political arrangements that they believe could affect the party’s candidates or its electoral interests.
The Progressive Governors Forum recently said it would not support alliances or political arrangements capable of undermining President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid or the APC’s candidates in the 2027 elections.
Wike, however, has maintained that his Rainbow Coalition is not an APC structure and has argued that political parties should remain free to field candidates for legislative and governorship elections while the coalition works to support Tinubu’s presidential bid.
His latest comments have brought the reported Senate presidency ambition of Uzodimma into the wider political dispute, although the eventual leadership of the Senate after the 2027 elections will depend on the composition of the National Assembly and the subsequent choice of senators.
Uzodimma has not, in the reports reviewed, publicly confirmed that he will contest for the Senate or formally declared a bid to become Senate President.