Former Rivers State Governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike, may be preparing to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Wike was appointed FCT Minister by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023, a move widely seen as recognition for the role he played in supporting Tinubu’s presidential bid against the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. “The minister will eventually join the APC with all of us who are his loyalists in Rivers State and across the country,” the source said. “But it will not happen now.
He will delay it until close to the elections. By then, the PDP would have been thoroughly weakened and unable to challenge President Tinubu.”
The source further alleged that the PDP is already facing internal tensions, as two of its remaining key figures—Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde—are both eyeing the party’s presidential ticket. He claimed this rivalry would deepen the party’s crisis, insisting that Makinde would not concede the ticket to Bala Mohammed.
He also alleged that Makinde has maintained a long-standing friendship with Wike, claiming that Wike influenced the release of N50 billion by the Federal Government to Oyo State following a fire incident—funds he said were not appropriated by the state government.On the ongoing impeachment moves against Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, the source said the matter had gone beyond the influence of the FCT Minister. According to him, the Rivers State House of Assembly is determined to remove the governor for allegedly failing to honour agreements reached with lawmakers.
“I was present at a meeting convened by the minister in Port Harcourt, which Governor Fubara attended alongside all of us who are his allies. That meeting took place in September last year, and we left united as a political family,” he said. “Wike asked Fubara to arrange another meeting in October, which he agreed to but later failed to honour.”
He added that Fubara’s refusal to meet with the Assembly leadership and pay outstanding allowances prompted Wike to tour local government areas to inform Rivers people that they were no longer politically aligned.The source further alleged that when a state of emergency was declared in Rivers State in March last year, President Tinubu did not inform Wike directly but instead briefed Senate President Godswill Akpabio. He claimed the President instructed the sole administrator, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, to work with Wike.
According to him, it was the sole administrator who later paid the owed allowances to lawmakers, provided vehicles, and funded constituency projects—actions he said Governor Fubara had failed to take despite earlier commitments.
