Dauda Lawal challenges Nyesom Wike to join APC if he wants to support Tinubu’s 2027 re-election, deepening the dispute over the Rainbow Coalition
Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has challenged Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike to join the All Progressives Congress, APC, or withdraw from the Rainbow Coalition if he intends to support President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election while backing candidates from other parties.
Lawal made the remarks during an interview with Channels Television’s Inside Sources on Thursday, September 24, 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The governor said the position of APC governors on Wike’s cross-party political platform remained unchanged, arguing that political allegiance should be clearly defined ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Our message is very, very clear: Be on one side. You can’t be in two sides,” Lawal said.
The Zamfara governor said Wike could not simultaneously support Tinubu’s presidential bid and promote candidates from other political parties in governorship and legislative contests.
“If you’re in APC, please come out and support APC. Not you’re supporting APC here and you’re supporting other political parties somewhere else. It doesn’t make sense,” Lawal added.
When asked whether the APC governors were effectively asking Wike to join the ruling party, Lawal responded, “Exactly. What’s the essence?”
Lawal also said he intended to raise Wike’s political position with Tinubu, stressing the need for clarity over where the FCT minister stands ahead of the election.
“It’s either he’s in APC or he’s out. It’s simple. And I go with my brothers, the governors,” he said.
The dispute centres on Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party platform he has promoted as a vehicle for mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election.
Wike has repeatedly maintained that his support for Tinubu does not amount to backing APC candidates in every other contest.
In a statement issued earlier in September, he said the coalition was separate from the APC and that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, remained free to field candidates for governorship and legislative elections.
Wike has also defended the arrangement by pointing to the 2023 election, when he and other members of the G5, then serving as PDP governors, supported Tinubu’s presidential bid while remaining outside the APC.
The FCT minister has argued that supporting a presidential candidate does not require politicians to abandon their parties or support the same party’s candidates in state and legislative elections.
APC governors have taken a different position. The Progressive Governors Forum has said it would support Tinubu and APC candidates in the 2027 elections, while expressing concern over political arrangements that could weaken the party’s structures.
The disagreement has continued to sharpen as political groups prepare for the 2027 elections, with questions over whether cross-party support for Tinubu can coexist with separate party structures and candidates at state level.
Wike has also criticised some APC governors over their opposition to the coalition, while alleging that their concerns are connected to political influence beyond the presidential election.
Those governors have rejected the characterisation and maintained their focus on the APC’s candidates and structures.
Lawal, for his part, dismissed Wike’s criticism of some APC governors as being directed at people the minister knows personally.
“Well, I mean, he knows the people he’s referring to, honestly,” Lawal said, adding that the difference in Zamfara was clear and inviting people to assess his administration’s work in the state.
The latest exchange adds another layer to the growing debate within Tinubu’s political camp over how support for the President should be organised ahead of 2027, particularly where supporters retain affiliations with opposition parties.
