‘Wike’s Message Is Not for Real PDP Members’ — Party Fires Back Over Tinubu’s 2027 Re-Election Push

BY TAIBAT UMMI YAKUBU

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has pushed back against Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike’s call for its candidates to abandon their independent political ambitions and support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027, accusing some opposition politicians of secretly working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party said Wike’s appeal was aimed at politicians who publicly identify with the opposition but allegedly advance the interests of the government they are expected to challenge. The response has further exposed the growing political disagreement over whether opposition figures should unite against the APC or cooperate with Tinubu ahead of the next presidential election.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Ini Ememobong, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP Interim National Working Committee, insisted that committed members of the party would not support Tinubu’s re-election or align themselves with the APC-led Federal Government.

“The message is meant for persons who, like him, are pretenders in the opposition but are working for the governing party,” Ememobong said, dismissing Wike’s appeal as nothing new.

The PDP spokesman argued that the responsibility of an opposition party was to offer Nigerians a credible alternative to the government in power, rather than help the incumbent retain office. He maintained that any genuine political alliance should bring opposition parties together to challenge the ruling party, not create an arrangement that strengthens it.

The dispute has also drawn attention to the proposed political arrangement known as the rainbow coalition, which Ememobong described as a threat to the country's electoral democracy. He warned that political cooperation that brings opposition figures closer to the ruling party could weaken the democratic process and leave voters with fewer meaningful choices.

“The paramount duty of the opposition is to provide an alternative to the incumbent, not to massage their ego. If at all opposition parties are to have an alliance, it will be amongst themselves, not with the governing party,” he said.

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In one of his strongest criticisms, Ememobong described the rainbow coalition as “the greatest threat to electoral democracy and the fastest way of railroading the country into an electoral monarchy.”

The PDP also accused unnamed political actors of promoting elite interests under the cover of broad-based political cooperation, urging Nigerians to scrutinise alliances ahead of the 2027 general election. The party called on voters to use the election to reject politicians it accused of placing personal and political interests above the needs of ordinary citizens.

However, beyond the dispute over Tinubu’s re-election, the PDP is also battling an internal legal crisis that has left its leadership situation under judicial consideration.

Ememobong urged party members to remain loyal as they await the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the party’s ongoing legal dispute. He expressed hope that the ruling would restore control of the PDP to what he described as its rightful owners.

“Our case at the Court of Appeal has been heard, and we await judgment. We know that the entire judiciary is conscious that justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.

The statement comes amid continuing disagreements over the direction of the opposition ahead of the 2027 elections, with questions surrounding political alliances, party loyalty and the future of opposition cooperation becoming increasingly prominent.

For the PDP, the message is clear: its candidates should not abandon their political structures to support Tinubu, and any alliance intended to challenge the ruling party must be built among opposition forces themselves.