Abdulmumin Jibrin, APC lawmaker representing Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency.
A member of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has said the ruling party needs the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, more than the former Rivers State governor needs the APC.
Jibrin, who represents Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State, made the declaration while speaking on Arise News on Monday as tensions continue to rise between Wike and some APC governors over the minister’s political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The lawmaker argued that Wike remains politically relevant regardless of whether he occupies a public office or belongs formally to the APC, saying the minister would remain in demand because of his political influence and network.
“Somebody like Wike will continue to be Wike in and out of office. He has qualities like the President. The President today, you take him out as the President, he would still continue to maintain his relevance,” Jibrin said.
He recalled that Wike had spent several years outside elective office without losing his political relevance, arguing that the same political resilience would continue to make him attractive to different political interests.
“After all, he was out of office for 16, 17 years, and his relevance was intact. Wike is that sort of a person, so Wike will be in demand all the time,” he added.
Jibrin said Wike’s role in supporting President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election and his subsequent involvement in the administration made it unnecessary for the APC to treat his relationship with the party as though it were starting afresh.
“For the fact that we had Wike in 2023, there is no need for any renewal. Automatically, for goodness’ sake, APC needs Wike, and I just want to be a bit subtle; I would have said much more than he needs us,” he said.
The APC chieftain also warned that Wike could attract the attention of other political platforms if his relationship with the ruling party deteriorates.
According to him, the possibility of Wike leaving the APC’s political orbit should make the party’s governors more willing to negotiate with him rather than confront him publicly.
“Because today, if he pulls out of the APC, he’ll be in high demand all over the country,” Jibrin said, adding that some of the governors had expressed reservations about his previous interventions on the matter.
He specifically urged the APC governors to negotiate with Wike, arguing that President Tinubu had similarly engaged the FCT minister after the 2023 election.
Jibrin said the political circumstances surrounding Wike were different from state to state and should therefore not be handled through a uniform approach.
“If the President of the country hadn’t negotiated with Wike and brought Wike on board today, there would have been a Rainbow Coalition in this country against APC,” he said.
He therefore advised governors who have disagreements with Wike to engage him directly and seek mutually acceptable solutions instead of escalating the disagreements through public statements.
“You just have to approach it in a pragmatic manner, and you see, the cases of the states are different. They are not the same. They are not uniform,” Jibrin said.
The lawmaker also criticised the recent public confrontation between some APC governors and Wike, saying political disagreements could be better resolved through discussions.
“My relationship with them is intact. But I believe that the models they adopted by going to do the press conference just to hit hard on Wike, I believe that it’s wrong because all the states, their cases are peculiar; they’re different cases, and there’s nothing wrong with going into discussion with Wike,” he said.
Jibrin’s latest comments come amid growing disagreements within the APC over Wike’s continued political activities outside the formal structure of the ruling party.
Wike remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while serving as FCT Minister under the Tinubu administration. He has also been promoting a broader political alliance, popularly referred to as the Rainbow Coalition, in support of President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
Some APC governors have opposed the arrangement, arguing that political support for the President should operate through the recognised structures of the ruling party. The disagreement has consequently raised questions over how the APC will manage competing political interests as preparations for the 2027 elections intensify.
Jibrin, however, maintained that his intervention was driven by his concern over anything that could affect the President’s re-election effort.
“Anything that I see can pose a danger to the re-election of the President, I will always intervene,” he said.
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