2027: What Wike told PDP presidential candidate about his support for Tinubu – Aide

Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has predicted that President Bola Tinubu will win the 2027 presidential election by a wider margin than he secured in 2023.

Mr Olayinka said his principal, a chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would help Mr Tinubu secure more votes in the election.

He stated this when he appeared on TVC’s Breakfast programme on Monday.

“The reason this election of 2027 will be a one-way election is because of the president’s performance in terms of national development and his political performance; this election is going to be the easiest. It will be much easier for the president than in the 2023 election. That is a fact that most people are not willing to accept.

“If Wike was not working with the president, probably he would have been galvanising more support for the PDP. Now he is not. The president has been able to bring him and other people to himself,” he said.

PDP’s concern

Mr Olayinka also addressed concerns over Mr Wike’s support for Mr Tinubu despite his continued membership of the PDP.

He said Sandy Onor, the PDP presidential candidate, had earlier approached Mr Wike to inform him of his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election.

The minister’s spokesperson stated that the minister made it clear to Mr Onor at the time that Mr Tinubu was his preferred candidate for the election.

He said Mr Wike had been open about his support for Mr Tinubu, arguing that it was more honourable for him to publicly declare his position than to work against his party’s candidate secretly.

“It will not be fair to the PDP if he (Wike) did not come out in the open to say, ‘ This is where I am.’ The person who is the candidate of the PDP is his friend. He told him, ‘This is where I am,’ and that is fine. He said, ‘ I want to contest, and he’s contesting, and nobody is stopping him.

“Coming out to say this is your stand is more honourable than going behind to do certain things against that person. So, that person who is contesting in the PDP is not complaining because he knows the stance of the minister. The minister already told him. So, we should not be the ones to now begin to…,” he said.

Mr Olayinka said the PDP and its presidential candidate had not publicly condemned Mr Wike’s support for Mr Tinubu.

He therefore urged Nigerians to disregard criticism of whatever role his principal is playing in the president’s re-election campaign.

“And the PDP as a party too is also not complaining. The PDP as a party has not come to the public to say, ‘this person is our member; he’s doing something.’ If the PDP has not complained to anyone and if the candidate of the PDP has also not complained, then what is our own? That is my position.”

Wike’s role in Tinubu’s emergence

Mr Wike’s support for President Tinubu predates his appointment as FCT minister in August 2023.

During the 2023 presidential election, Mr Wike was one of the five PDP governors who formed the G-5, also known as the Integrity Group, after the party’s presidential primary.

The group comprised Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, former Governor Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Mr Wike (Rivers).

The governors opposed the candidacy of Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and demanded the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu as PDP national chairman, arguing that both the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman should not come from the North.

Although the group did not formally adopt a single presidential candidate, Mr Wike openly hosted Mr Tinubu in Rivers State during the campaign and allowed the APC presidential candidate to use the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt for his campaign rally.

Reports at the time also linked Mr Wike and his political structure to efforts that helped Mr Tinubu secure victory in Rivers State.

The then Rivers governor later acknowledged that the G-5 worked for the emergence of a southern president, although he maintained that the group did not formally agree to support Mr Tinubu or Peter Obi, then the Labour Party presidential candidate.

In August 2023, Mr Tinubu appointed Mr Wike, a PDP member, as minister of the FCT. His appointment marked an unusual development in Nigeria’s contemporary politics, with a prominent opposition politician accepting a cabinet position in the APC federal administration.

Since then, Mr Wike has remained a member of the PDP while openly supporting Mr Tinubu for a second term in office.

Wike’s influence within the PDP

Mr Wike has also retained significant influence within the PDP despite his alignment with the APC-led federal government. His influence became particularly evident in the party’s leadership crisis following the 2023 presidential election.

READ ALSO: 2027: If Tinubu loses, Atiku, Obi will come for my head — Wike

Umar Damagum, who was then the party’s deputy national chairman (North), became acting national chairman in March 2023 after the suspension of Mr Ayu. Mr Damagum was subsequently confirmed as the substantive national chairman by the PDP’s National Executive Committee in August 2025.

The leadership arrangement, however, became another battleground between Mr Wike and other factions of the party. In 2025, a group of PDP leaders and stakeholders loyal to the minister, including National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, openly challenged the Damagum-led leadership and pushed for changes to the party’s zoning and convention arrangements.

Ahead of the party’s 2025 national convention, Mr Wike’s allies demanded, among other things, that the national chairmanship be retained in the North-central and that certain disputed party congresses be conducted afresh. The demands demonstrated the influence Mr Wike and his allies continued to wield within the opposition party despite his public alignment with President Tinubu.

The Supreme Court eventually recognised the faction loyal to Mr Wike as the authentic leadership of the PDP. It has Abdulrahman Mohammed as its National Chairman and is recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).