The Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to choose between joining the All Progressives Congress and remaining outside the party.
Lawal said Wike could not operate on both sides of the political divide while supporting President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid and simultaneously backing a coalition involving opposition parties.
The governor spoke amid the growing disagreement between Wike and some APC governors over the Rainbow Coalition.
Lawal said the Progressive Governors Forum, the umbrella body of APC governors, had already made its position clear on the matter.
According to him, Wike could express his views on the coalition, but the governors would not shift from their position.
“Wike can’t be on two sides. It doesn’t make sense,” Lawal said.
“He can say whatever he wants to say, but the Governors’ Forum position is clear. Wike should come to the APC.”
Lawal said the matter would be taken up with President Tinubu when the President returns from France.
He said there was a need for Wike to make his political position clear ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Let there be a clear line with where this guy belongs to. It’s either he’s in the APC or he’s out,” the governor said.
Wike is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party but currently serves as FCT Minister under the APC-led Federal Government.
He has declared support for Tinubu’s re-election while defending the Rainbow Coalition as a broader political platform rather than an APC structure.
Wike has maintained that supporting Tinubu for the presidency does not prevent other political parties within the coalition from pursuing their own candidates in governorship and legislative contests.
But some APC governors have questioned the arrangement, particularly its implications for the ruling party’s political structures ahead of the 2027 elections.
Lawal said the APC governors’ position was not about preventing Wike from expressing his political views.
Rather, he said, the issue was the need for clarity over where the FCT minister stood politically.
The Zamfara governor said the APC remained committed to its political structure and would continue to defend the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
The latest development adds another layer to the growing disagreement over Wike’s role in the Rainbow Coalition and his continued membership of the PDP while serving in the APC-led Federal Government.