Governor of Adamawa State Ahmadu Fintiri held a closed-door meeting with Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt, a visit that underscores the widening fissures within the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The encounter, confirmed by Wike’s media aide Lere Olayinka via photographs posted on X, comes as party governors increasingly distance themselves from Wike’s cross-party “Rainbow Coalition” strategy.
The Adamawa Governor’s trip to Rivers State marks another round of high-level consultations between two longtime political allies whose relationship dates back to the G5 governors’ coalition that backed President Bola Tinubu in 2023.
Olayinka’s caption—“Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri was in Port Harcourt to see Nyerisi”—offered no details on the agenda, leaving the substance of their discussions to speculation.
Both men have kept the purpose and outcome of the meeting private, but the timing has intensified speculation about realignments as national political actors jockey for position before 2027.
Fintiri and Wike have maintained a political relationship spanning several years, and their repeated consultations are being closely watched by party stakeholders.
At the heart of the current tension is Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a multi-party arrangement designed to mobilize support for President Tinubu’s re-election while allowing participating politicians to pursue their own interests in governorship and legislative contests.
The coalition has drawn sharp pushback from the APC Governors’ Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, which in mid-September resolved that its members would not support any alliance capable of undermining the party or its candidates.
Uzodinma and other governors argue that parallel structures risk confusing voters, diluting party discipline, and weakening the APC’s grassroots machinery—assets they control through state party structures and primaries.
Wike, a PDP chieftain serving in the APC-led Federal Government, has dismissed the governors’ objections, insisting he never sought an alliance with the forum and that his coalition is solely about backing Tinubu, not the APC as a party.
The dispute has evolved into a contest over who controls the political machinery for Tinubu’s 2027 campaign and the post-election leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives. R
Wike has suggested that the governors’ resistance is less about principle and more about Uzodinma’s ambition to become Senate President in 2027.
Meanwhile, APC state chairmen in the South-East have publicly rejected the Rainbow Coalition, aligning with the governors’ forum.
President Tinubu is expected to intervene soon to broker peace between Wike and the governors, as the rift threatens to complicate the ruling party’s re-election strategy.
For now, meetings like Fintiri’s visit to Port Harcourt signal that behind-the-scenes negotiations are intensifying even as public positions harden.
