₦airaland Forum

REASONS WHY APC PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS ARE AGAINST NYESOM WIKE — ONOH

Former Southeast Spokesman to President Tinubu Narrates the Controversial Trajectory of Nyesom Wike’s Legacy of Political Instrumentalisation as the Reason Behind Current APC Governors’ Confrontation

In a statement made available to journalists in Lagos, Denge Josef Onoh, former Southeast Spokesman to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reacted to the media chat of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, in which the Minister attacked APC Governors.

Onoh stated that the political journey of Nyesom Wike, from his roots as a local government chairman to his contemporary standing, reveals a consistent, troubling pattern. Rather than a trajectory of independent statesmanship, it is a legacy defined by bitter political controversies and a recurring role as a political wrecking ball used by higher authorities to decimate political opponents.

Onoh narrated that Wike’s entry into prominent politics began during his tenure as the Executive Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area (1999–2007). Even at that grassroots level, his administration was marked by fierce local rivalries and dominance tactics. Recognising his aggressive political style, higher political actors quickly co-opted him. He was positioned as the Chief of Staff to the then-Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi. In this role, Wike was heavily utilised as an enforcement mechanism to consolidate power within the state, manage local political machinery, and neutralise internal dissenters within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) structure in Rivers State.

Onoh described Wike as the wrecking ball of the Jonathan Presidency. Wike’s political utility reached a national scale when he was appointed Minister of State for Education, and later Acting Minister, under President Goodluck Jonathan. During this era, the presidency openly deployed Wike as a political weapon to wage a fierce proxy war against his former benefactor, Rotimi Amaechi, who had fallen out with the Jonathan administration. Wike effectively weaponised the federal apparatus, divided the Rivers State House of Assembly, and engineered a massive political assault that destabilised the state’s governance. He was the spearhead used by the presidency to punish political non-alignment and shatter Amaechi’s structure ahead of the 2015 elections.

On the structural limitations of Wike’s machinery, Onoh noted that the Minister frequently presents his political approach as an invincible national formula. Yet the 2022 PDP primaries demonstrated the clear limits of his national reach. At that time, Wike wielded immense structural control over the national PDP apparatus and its leadership. When the final votes were counted at Eagle Square, his machinery fell short against the superior alliances built by his opponents. That outcome proved that a highly centralised, state-dependent political structure does not automatically translate into national consensus. Wike’s political influence remains highly regionalised and should not be mistaken for a guaranteed nationwide electoral asset come 2027.

Reacting to the 2023 G-5 rebellion, Onoh said the buildup to the 2023 presidential election demonstrated Wike’s willingness to destabilise his own political house when his personal aspirations were checked. Before positioning himself as the champion of Southern rotation, Wike actively and aggressively contested the 2023 PDP presidential primary. Following his loss to Atiku Abubakar—a Northern candidate—Wike openly positioned himself and was widely reported to be under consideration as Atiku’s vice-presidential running mate.

If the absolute rotation of power to the South was an unbending, foundational principle, any consideration of a joint ticket with a Northern candidate would have been rejected from the outset. Instead, after being passed over for the vice-presidential slot, Wike formed the G5 Governors (Integrity Group) to openly oppose his party’s nominee, actively undermining Atiku’s campaign in Rivers State.

“While our then Tinubu presidential campaign astutely utilised Wike’s internal grievances to fracture the PDP’s traditional voting stronghold in the South-South and suppress the opposition’s numbers,” Onoh stated. “In fact, I was one of the few PDP former members in the Tinubu presidential campaign that suggested bringing Wike into our campaign, including my former Governor—a discussion I privately had with close associates of the President and a serving minister that I won’t mention their names. The timeline proves and vindicates my position that the G5 functioned primarily as a tactical tool born out of internal party friction rather than a rigid ideological commitment to regional equity. Once again, Wike acted as an instrument of destruction, breaking his own party’s backbone to the strategic advantage of higher external political beneficiaries. We the APC have rewarded him immensely and he shouldn’t take that gesture as a sign of weakness.”

Onoh further stated that Wike’s public criticism of South-East governors for failing to deliver an outright victory to President Tinubu in the 2023 polls lacks sound political logic. The South-East region was responding to a historic, indigenous electoral movement led by Peter Obi. The political reality was clear: if Peter Obi had been an indigene of Rivers State running with that same regional momentum, no single political structure in the South-South could have halted a total electoral sweep. Delivering a state against a distant external candidate is structurally distinct from attempting to halt an unprecedented home-grown movement. Wike faulting South-East governors on this metric is an empty comparison that misreads complex regional dynamics.

Compounding his regional friction, Onoh noted that Wike has courted controversy in Abuja by issuing aggressive demolition threats against properties belonging to prominent elites. The Minister must recognise that the administrative and political climate of the Federal Capital Territory is fundamentally different from that of Rivers State. Abuja is the diplomatic nerve centre of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hosting international embassies, global media corps, and foreign missions. High-handed political methods deployed in state politics cannot be sustained in the nation’s capital. Any political friction, heavy-handed administrative actions, or disruption of civic rights in the FCT during election cycles will occur under the immediate scrutiny of the international community. Such occurrences risk undermining the perceived integrity of our national democratic process and causing severe, long-term damage to Nigeria’s foreign relations.

On the current face-off with APC Governors, Onoh said the reason is simple. Wike’s PDP fielded 405 National Assembly candidates to contest across the 109 Senate and 360 House of Representatives seats, and 23 governorship candidates across the states holding gubernatorial elections. Wike’s historical pattern of being an aggressive political instrument perfectly explains his current, volatile face-off with several APC Governors and the wider APC structure.

Wike’s political survival has always depended on maintaining a theatre of war. Having been absorbed into an APC-led administration while stubbornly trying to hold onto the remnants of the PDP structure in Rivers State, he now finds himself in a friction zone. Higher political forces within the national framework continue to tolerate and utilise Wike to destabilise opposition strongholds and manage geopolitical balances.

Progressive APC Governors, Onoh said, recognise Wike’s historical trajectory. They understand that a political actor whose entire career is built on being used to destroy political structures will eventually turn that destructive energy inward against the APC’s own internal cohesion. His self-styled Rainbow Coalition is simply his personal launch pad to negotiate a vice-presidential position for himself come 2031.

Onoh recalled Wike’s war with his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and his threats to “put fire” in the states of APC and PDP governors who oppose him, as a continuation of his lifelong political methodology. He is attempting to use federal leverage to crush domestic rivals, even if it compromises the peace of the nation.

The impression amongst Nigerians regarding Wike, Onoh noted, is that the APC presidency utilises him as a tactical institutional wedge to keep the opposition permanently divided ahead of the next election cycle, while using him to enforce controversial federal land reforms in Abuja to absorb public backlash.

However, Onoh warned that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must carefully assess the long-term impact of Wike’s “Rainbow Coalition.” A parallel political arrangement that demands loyalty to the President while running opposing candidates against the ruling party at the state level is a direct threat to the APC’s internal cohesion. It introduces structural fragmentation and confuses the grassroots electorate.

“The presidency is fast approaching a definitive crossroads,” Onoh stated. “No administration can successfully govern or secure a national mandate by alienating the formal party executives and governors who command the legal machinery of our ruling party. If these boundary issues are not firmly resolved, the presidency will inevitably face a choice between maintaining the institutional loyalty of over 30 APC Governors or accommodating the highly volatile, independent actions of one single PDP Minister.”

In conclusion, Onoh said Wike’s political history shows that he is an unstable ally who eventually turns on his political benefactors. He must not be allowed to sacrifice the institutional foundation of the APC on the altar of his personal survival.

“Nyesom Wike’s political history shows that he is a master of tactical disruption, but always within a framework where his aggressive energy serves the macro-designs of higher political office holders. As he confronts our progressive governors across party lines today, we must look past the immediate noise and recognise a deeper truth: Wike remains a political instrument whose ultimate utility is conflict, and whose historical legacy is the systematic demolition of the very political houses that shelter him.”

**Signed**
Denge. Josef Onoh
Former Southeast Spokesman to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

https://peoplesdaily.ng/2027-showdown-onoh-reveals-why-apc-governors-are-battling-wike-over-rainbow-coalition/

All this long epistle only shows one thing. Tinubu is weak. If he doesn't call Wike to order, the house APC built will quickly find itself on sinking sand. If APC governors gang up against Wike there is nothing the president can do to save him.

😃

Make una dey deceive unaself dey go..

Wike will be useless after 2027 actually

Shey this one no get job ni?

APC governors are against Wike because Wike has become a behemoth.

In 2022, Daniel Bwala said that some APC governors were working in secret with Atiku Abubakar. Abdullahi Sule denied it. Tinubu won 12 states. Among those 12 states were three opposition states (Oyo, Rivers and Benue) and Atiku could not even scratch 25% in those states. Those three states were part of G5 states controlled by Wike and his associates.

After APC edged out some contestants, Wike did take advantage by bringing them under his fold so they would not be disgruntled and work against Tinubu's interests. Wike was committed to Tinubu beyond words. He did what APC did not do. As soon as those aspirants were edged out, you compensate them so they won't work against you.

Anyone who wants to fight Wike is expected to deliver his state. Not 25%, but decisive victory. If Hope Uzodinma doesn't, he should not be rewarded with senate presidency. Infact, the senate presidency should go to the zone that gives the highest number of votes than the zones of the president and vice president. You cannot do skeletal work and want massive reward.

Deliver like Wike.

If Tinubu is to be defeated come 2027, wike will be nowhere to be found.

Politics to an outsider;
The more you look, the less you see
Citizens are just pawns being played

They're are all hyenas, let them eat themselves up

Very long story. Truth is, Wike has done well

ogugwa1992:
REASONS WHY APC PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS ARE AGAINST NYESOM WIKE — ONOH

Former Southeast Spokesman to President Tinubu Narrates the Controversial Trajectory of Nyesom Wike’s Legacy of Political Instrumentalisation as the Reason Behind Current APC Governors’ Confrontation





https://peoplesdaily.ng/2027-showdown-onoh-reveals-why-apc-governors-are-battling-wike-over-rainbow-coalition/

Very long story! Truth is, Wike has done well politically!! I previously disliked him because I thought he was loquacious but I later came to realise that he actually was putting his mouth to good defensive use to advance his political interests and I came to like him! Wike has done well politically for himself and his society and the Judiciary his primary professional constituency!! His political foes such as Sarah Igbe, Ankio Briggs, Jakes Epelle and the APC Governors are simply jealous of him because of his political sagacity that has won him a place in the heart of President Tinubu especially after a ruling party won FCT Elections- A first ever! His political foes are gone green with envy and become so shameless they can barely conceal their hatred and envy of him. Atiku, Amaechi and Peter Obi break out in sweat 😰 at the mention of Wike’s name! By the way,where is Tambuwal today in the scheme of things? Those who betray friendships and trust usually don’t end up well! Ask Judas Iscariot, Omoboriowo of Ondo State, that other Ondo State Deputy Governor to Akeredolu by name Bitter Agboola Judas Iscariot who thought to supplant him et al.

Lol, everybody is now attacking wike, because he seemed like a more beautiful bride than them 😁. wike sef no de hear word

This is about Rivers state governorship election. Kingsley chinda posters don full Elelenwo. The man won't get anything if what I'm thinking plays out.

Dogalmighty17:
All this long epistle only shows one thing. Tinubu is weak. If he doesn't call Wike to order, the house APC built will quickly find itself on sinking sand. If APC governors gang up against Wike there is nothing the president can do to save him.

so what is holding them to gang up against him? 🙄

Wike can never be trusted, wike is that devil they caution us to use long spoon when eating with him.

Meaningless epistle. They are fighting for their interests. Any governor who has performed well has nothing to fear.

holyDaniel:
Wike can never be trusted, wike is that devil they caution us to use long spoon when eating with him.

Present your evidence! On the contrary, Nyesom Wike is one strong ally anyone who wishes to be President in 2027 will need to be with. My evidence? His political trajectory and how he played his political cards during the last FCT Elections when, for the first time ever, a ruling political party overwhelmingly won the FCT Council Elections. It was a marvel to behold!!For instance, Sen. Ireti Kingibe knows she is a goner come 2027! What did Wike do? Wike simply studied the political terrain in the FCT properly and discovered that the politicians indigenous to the FCT have, overtime, been neglected in the political scheme of things. Wike simply ensured that they were on the ballot and that did the trick while lazy APC Governors and politicians were left mouth agape at the election results!! I strongly believe students of political science will, someday to come, study the politics of Nyesom Wike in Universities if that is not already underway as we speak! I hear some like Dave Umahi et al say that Wike has done nothing and been nowhere else all his life but hold public office as a politician. Truth is, he has excelled at it and should be celebrated not hated! His traducers who would wish to be successful at politics after making a billion Naira at 25 years of age will do well to learn from him instead of hating on him! Nyesom Wike is a political enigma! Take it or leave it!!!

emkz:
APC governors are against Wike because Wike has become a behemoth.

In 2022, Daniel Bwala said that some APC governors were working in secret with Atiku Abubakar. Abdullahi Sule denied it. Tinubu won 12 states. Among those 12 states were three opposition states (Oyo, Rivers and Benue) and Atiku could not even scratch 25% in those states. Those three states were part of G5 states controlled by Wike and his associates.

After APC edged out some contestants, Wike did take advantage by bringing them under his fold so they would not be disgruntled and work against Tinubu's interests. Wike was committed to Tinubu beyond words. He did what APC did not do. As soon as those aspirants were edged out, you compensate them so they won't work against you.

Anyone who wants to fight Wike is expected to deliver his state. Not 25%, but decisive victory. If Hope Uzodinma doesn't, he should not be rewarded with senate presidency. Infact, the senate presidency should go to the zone that gives the highest number of votes than the zones of the president and vice president. You cannot do skeletal work and want massive reward.

Deliver like Wike.

well said ....those apc governors are clown ....wike support for a southern president is very much bond... Am very much in support for him to boycott atiku chance in 2023....the likely betrayal against tinubu in 2027 are those apc governors..... The osun election adekele won was a wake-up call for them...because the hand writing of wike was clearly on the wall..

teeteepeejay:
Wike will be useless after 2027 actually

No doubt about that. We will see what becomes of him and his likes. I pity all the jobless supporters of APC.....even if Tinubu wins, he will still deal with some of them, especially people like Bwala, Reno and others. Dem go hear am

I think Wike is working for his interest beyond 2027, Wike and Dickson are cooking something interesting, we just got to wait and see

Are we talking about the same Wike that had the machinery to frustrate Atiku's presidency 😂

The downfall of wike in politics will soon come

teeteepeejay:
Wike will be useless after 2027 actually

And if the president decides to retain him as FCT minister, or make him Minister of Power or defense nko?

Because come 2027, the president is going to take on those illegal miners in the North causing insecurity in the country.

The President is going to be bullish and ruthless...he will have nothing to loose

Apc is now trying to use wike's antecedents against him They might eventually dump him after using him to achieve their major political goals? Don't joke with drug lords they are capable of betraying anyone.

Rebuke:
No doubt about that. We will see what becomes of him and his likes. I pity all the jobless supporters of APC.....even if Tinubu wins, he will still deal with some of them, especially people like Bwala, Reno and others. Dem go here am

President Tinubu has no such political record! Sift him politically and you will not find a single political acolyte used and dumped by him. Check very well and you discover that he has a very large political heart almost to a fault. For instance, Rauf Aregbesola knows that left to President Tinubu he was back in the APC fold even though he became a betrayer unworthy of political trust. My study of President Tinubu through the decades reveal a political personality who is ALWAYS on the lookout for a promising hand to lift up in life. Nyesom Wike after 2027 will take his next place politically and it can only be higher still! Know it now that President Tinubu will use his political clout to give Nyesom Wike the influence to decide who contests and wins the Presidency after Tinubu and it gets to be the turn of the North! Northern politicians reading the room correctly and seeking to be President after Tinubu when it gets to become the turn of the North already know to be with Wike. The single word for what Nyesom Wike is getting into Nationally is "KINGMAKER" and that is a heavy one politically speaking. It is more influential than a political Godfather position!!! Folks like you awaiting the political downfall of Nyesom Wike are sure to wait like forever! Remember to keep watching how far below you have gone before the pit you are digging for Nyesom Wike becomes too deep for you to safely make your way out and not be buried in it!!!!!

Wike can't win any contestable post, outside Rivers State.

Tinubu is himself a street smart politician. Note how he has emasculated FFk,Bwala and Omokri. He has silenced them from further provocation against his interest unlike in the past when they ran riot against him. He's holding against Wike for now because of his utility value in the forth coming presidential election. Wike himself is not helping matters by being too garulous and confrontational .After reelection have been secured, Tinubu will cut Wike to size more especially as Wike is not on any ballot.

It would be foolhardy for any politician especially one with a lot of skeleton in his cupboard to challenge presidential incumbency.

Gbogboski:
Tinubu is himself a street smart politician. Note how he has emasculated FFk,Bwala and Omokri. He has silenced them from further provocation against his interest unlike in the past when they ran riot against him. He's holding against Wike for now because of his utility value in the forth coming presidential election. Wike himself is not helping matters by being too garulous and confrontational .After reelection have been secured, Tinubu will cut Wike to size more especially as Wike is not on any ballot.

It would be foolhardy for any politician especially one with a lot of skeleton in his cupboard to challenge presidential incumbency.

Wrong! Read my post immediately above and you might see differently.

Whatever that will scatter and destroy the dangerous cult called APC is highly welcomed and will be celebrated by all well meaning Nigerians

ogugwa1992:
REASONS WHY APC PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS ARE AGAINST NYESOM WIKE — ONOH

Former Southeast Spokesman to President Tinubu Narrates the Controversial Trajectory of Nyesom Wike’s Legacy of Political Instrumentalisation as the Reason Behind Current APC Governors’ Confrontation





https://peoplesdaily.ng/2027-showdown-onoh-reveals-why-apc-governors-are-battling-wike-over-rainbow-coalition/

Denge Pose won't get the job done. Deal with the facts! All Nyesom Wike has done so far in the PDP is to ensure that the unconscionable and desperate-to-be-President personality that Abubakar Atiku is never gets to again handle the levers of power in the PDP. He has so far succeeded at that and excellently at that!!! Wike told Atiku and his co-travellers that he would show them the door out of the PDP and that has happened!!!! Nyesom Wike set at Atiku not just because he is a political opponent in the contest for the Presidency but especially because Atiku refused to honour an unwritten pact rotating the Presidency between the North and the South!! Abubakar Atiku, deep inside, deeply regrets that but has gone too far down the slope to attempt a return upstairs!

The end of the wicked drunkard and blood testy demon is here, glory to God

He does not win election, he always steals it by writing fake result in an original result sheet from INEC

ThinkSmarter:
Wike can't win any contestable post, outside Rivers State.