President Bola Tinubu has moved to streamline the roles of Nyesom Wike and Festus Keyamo in his 2027 re-election campaign, with the FCT Minister expected to coordinate Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory while the Aviation Minister is tipped to emerge as campaign spokesperson.
Wike, who retains his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, will not be formally placed inside the hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress, a party he has repeatedly said he does not belong to.
The arrangement is designed to harness his political network without creating clashes within the APC, according to sources familiar with the developing campaign structure.
It also follows a growing disagreement between Wike and several APC governors over how support for Tinubu should be organised ahead of the 2027 elections.
Wike has insisted he does not need APC membership or a position in the party’s Presidential Campaign Council to work for the President’s re-election. He has also rejected suggestions that he was seeking the director-general position, saying his concern was to deliver Rivers and the FCT for Tinubu.
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.
Rather than a conventional structure where every senior official reports to the director-general, the emerging framework gives some of the party’s most influential figures distinct spheres of responsibility.
The arrangement is intended to accommodate the various political blocs expected to play prominent roles in the campaign without creating overlaps in authority.
Wike recently described himself as the “General Commander of the Political Infantry,” declaring 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,” he said. “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.”
That assertion brought him into direct conflict with APC politicians who believe elected governors should retain control of their respective party structures.
Wike has accused some APC governors of working against him, specifically naming Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
He has also promoted the “Rainbow Coalition,” a cross-party arrangement designed to mobilise support for Tinubu beyond the formal APC structure.
The Progressives Governors Forum, however, rejected the idea. Its chairman, Uzodimma, said the governors unanimously resolved not to participate in, support or endorse any alliance capable of undermining the President’s re-election or weakening the APC.
Keyamo 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 possible return to the frontline campaign communications team is expected to provide continuity with the President’s previous campaigns.
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