… President moves to streamline ex-governor’s role in 2027 journey
… Keyamo tipped as campaign spokesperson
… To avoid clashes, Akpabio, Barau will not report to Yari
President Bola Tinubu has moved to give the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, a clearly defined role in his 2027 re-election campaign, with the former Rivers state governor expected to emerge as coordinator of the campaign structure in Rivers State and the FCT, although he retains his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The emerging arrangement, according to sources familiar with the developing campaign structure, is designed to harness Wike’s political network without formally placing him inside the hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party he has repeatedly said he does not belong to.
It also comes against the backdrop of a growing disagreement between the minister and several APC governors over how support for Tinubu should be organised ahead of the 2027 elections.
Wike has repeatedly insisted that he does not require membership of the APC or a position in the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) to work for Tinubu’s re-election. He has also rejected suggestions that he was seeking the director general’s position in the campaign council, saying his concern was to deliver Rivers State and the FCT for the President.
THISDAY learnt last night that the arrangement would, in effect, give the minister a defined presidential campaign responsibility in two strategic territories where he has repeatedly claimed substantial influence.
But even as the campaign structure is being assembled, the sources said there would not be a single chain of command running through the entire council.
Former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, will serve as Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council, but Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, are not expected to report to him, according to sources familiar with the proposed structure.
The arrangement, THISDAY understood, reflects the political weight of the two presiding officers of the National Assembly and the desire to accommodate the different power centres expected to participate in Tinubu’s re-election campaign for next year.
Rather than a conventional military-style structure in which every senior campaign official reports to the director general, the emerging framework is expected to give some of the party’s most influential figures distinct spheres of responsibility.
Although Yari is expected to coordinate the day-to-day operations of the presidential campaign council as director general, Akpabio and Barau will operate independently of him and are expected to have direct lines of responsibility within the bigger campaign structure.
The arrangement, according to highly placed sources, is part of the effort to accommodate the various political blocs and influential figures expected to play prominent roles in Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign without creating unnecessary overlaps in authority.
According to a very reliable source, that same logic underpins the proposed role for Wike, who will be in charge of the FCT and River as Tinubu plans to ensure that clashes do not happen among the key drivers or top echelon of his campaign.
Only this month, Wike described himself as the “General Commander of the Political Infantry” and declared that he remained in charge of political structures in Rivers and the FCT.
“You do not need to be governor before you can be in charge. I am the General Commander of the Political Infantry; therefore, I am in charge. So also in FCT. I owe the President to give these two,” he said.
That assertion, however, brought him into direct conflict with politicians within the APC who believe elected governors should retain control of their respective party structures.
The disagreement has become particularly pronounced in recent weeks, with Wike accusing some APC governors of working against him, specifically naming Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
Wike has also promoted the “Rainbow Coalition”, a cross-party political arrangement designed to mobilise support for Tinubu beyond the formal APC structure. His argument is that politicians should be free to support the President at the presidential level while backing candidates of their choice in state and other elections.
However, that proposition has proved difficult for APC governors to accept. Reading the resolutions of the Progressives Governors Forum a few days ago, the Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Forum, Uzodimma, declared that the governors unanimously resolved not to have anything to do with the Rainbow Coalition.
“The forum unanimously resolved that its members won’t participate in, support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the reelection of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels.
“In other words, the forum has no intention of supporting anybody at any level, that’s not an APC candidate because our candidates are being sponsored by our party. The governors affirm that commitment is exclusively to all APC candidates.
“Any arrangement that can create confusion, divided loyalty or competing interests will not be entertained. All levels of the party campaign architectures must align with the expectations of Mr President and objectives of the APC,” the APC governors’ bloc maintained.
However, Wike has reiterated that his support for the reelection of President Tinubu remained sacrosanct, saying he never promised that the PDP will not field candidates in governorship, National Assembly and States House of Assembly elections. He also said that Tinubu knew about the rainbow coalition.
But the position exposed a central fault line between Wike and the governors. While the minister’s immediate political objective appears to be Tinubu’s re-election, he does not appear willing to subordinate his wider political network to the APC’s candidates in every state.
According to the source, it is this brewing chaos that Tinubu is seeking to nip in the bud by quickly streamlining the role that Wike, who has become his close ally, should play in the upcoming presidential polls.
The former Rivers governor’s relationship with Tinubu dates back to the 2023 election, when he and four other aggrieved PDP governors refused to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The group, popularly known as the G5, demanded that the PDP resolve its internal zoning and power-sharing disputes before the election. Wike subsequently supported Tinubu, despite remaining in the PDP.
Since Tinubu assumed office, the relationship has deepened. The President appointed Wike as FCT minister, making him one of the most prominent opposition-party politicians serving in the federal cabinet.
Wike has since defended the administration’s policies, promoted federal projects in the FCT and repeatedly campaigned for Tinubu’s re-election.
In Rivers, he has also argued that Tinubu has demonstrated sufficient commitment to the state to deserve the support of its people. But his growing proximity to Tinubu has not translated into an uncomplicated relationship with the APC establishment.
Similarly, the proposed campaign coordination role is expected to navigate an unusual arrangement in which the current governor of Rivers, Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor are members of ‘different’ political parties but are both aligned with the same presidential candidate.
Sources said the proposed structure was intended to reduce this ambiguity by defining Wike’s responsibility around Tinubu’s presidential vote rather than handing him control of the APC’s wider state organisation.
As the minister responsible for the federal capital, Wike has developed a highly visible political and administrative profile there and has already declared that he would personally coordinate efforts to secure Tinubu’s victory in the territory.
Although it has become a tradition that ruling parties lose the seat of power during presidential polls, Wike has promised to reverse the trend in the coming presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, is being tipped for a prominent spokesperson role in the campaign. A versatile campaigner whose experience in presidential campaign remains second to none in the landscape.
He has been a thorn in the flesh of opposition figures, describing them as lacking direction, coordination and the gravitas to oust Tinubu.
Keyamo brings considerable campaign communication experience to the emerging structure. He served as a spokesperson and Director of Public Affairs in Tinubu’s 2023 presidential campaign and previously played a senior communications role in Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election campaign.
His experience has also extended beyond electioneering into government, having served as Minister of State for Labour and Employment under Buhari before becoming the current Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development under Tinubu.
Keyamo’s possible return to the frontline campaign communications team is therefore expected to provide continuity with the President’s previous campaigns, while putting one of the administration’s most experienced political communicators at the centre of the campaign’s public messaging, it was gathered. THISDAY
