A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and federal lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has described Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as a major asset to the ruling party, urging APC members to stop publicly embarrassing him.
Jibrin made the remarks on Wednesday night while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he defended Wike amid criticisms from some APC governors over the minister’s continued membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while supporting President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
The Kano lawmaker said Wike’s contribution to Tinubu’s electoral victory and the administration had benefited APC members across the country, insisting that the former Rivers State governor had made significant sacrifices for the President and the ruling party.
“There is no APC member in Nigeria today that has not directly or indirectly benefited from the efforts of Wike,” Jibrin said.
He added: “Wike is an asset to the APC. I don’t think Wike should be embarrassed at this moment with public statements.”
Jibrin stressed that his intervention was not based on a personal relationship with Wike, saying he had only met the FCT minister twice by accident.
According to him, his concern was the stability of Tinubu’s second-term project and the need to preserve the support of political allies working to advance the President’s re-election.
“I’m not holding any brief for Wike, but I think anything that is going to touch on the stability of the journey towards delivering the President, I like to make my intervention,” he said.
The former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation also highlighted what he described as Wike’s political sacrifices, including his role in helping the APC gain ground in Rivers State and his alleged influence in the FCT.
Jibrin said Wike had surrendered political structures and asked candidates associated with him to step down in some FCT elections to support APC candidates.
“I believe that Wike has sacrificed. He handed over Rivers to APC. Wike had candidates [in the] FCT election but asked them to step down for APC,” he said.
He argued that Wike’s decision to work with the Tinubu administration as part of the government’s broader political coalition should also be taken into consideration.
Jibrin further said it was not unusual for politicians outside the APC to support the President, noting that some individuals in other political parties, including the PDP and ADC, were also working with the administration’s coalition.
His comments come amid criticism of Wike by some APC governors, including Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, over his continued affiliation with the PDP while campaigning for Tinubu under the coalition known as the “Rainbow Coalition.”
Jibrin urged the governors to engage Wike through dialogue rather than public statements.
“For the governors, they should take Wike as part of them,” he said, adding that if there were disagreements at the state level, the affected parties should discuss directly with the FCT minister.
He also pointed to the outcome of the recently concluded FCT Area Council elections, where APC won five of the six councils, as evidence of the electoral value of the political mobilisation around Tinubu.
According to Jibrin, political relevance is ultimately measured by numbers and electoral results, and he argued that Wike’s contribution should therefore be recognised and leveraged rather than publicly attacked.
He warned that inflammatory statements against strategic allies could demoralise politicians supporting the President from outside the APC and potentially undermine the broader coalition backing Tinubu’s 2027 bid.