‘We Won’t Allow Wike to Use APC To Build His Party’ – Farouk Aliyu

Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Farouk Adamu-Aliyu, has warned Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, against using his support for President Bola Tinubu to influence the ruling party’s internal affairs.

Aliyu, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, said the APC appreciates Wike’s role in weakening the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2023 presidential election, but maintained that the minister, who remains a PDP member, should not be allowed to build a political structure within the APC.

“We appreciate everything Wike has done for us. In fact, anybody who is willing to destroy his party for us, we will welcome him,” Aliyu said.

“However, we will not allow him to use our party to build his own party.”

The APC chieftain also criticised Wike’s comments about APC governors, particularly descriptions of some as “lazy” and “419,” saying the minister could not dictate how the ruling party runs its campaigns.

Aliyu said the APC’s position was that supporters should vote for Tinubu as well as APC candidates contesting National Assembly and state assembly seats.

“What we at the party have decided: no mixture. You vote for Tinubu, vote for him in the National Assembly, vote for his state assembly,” he said.

According to him, the party does not want a situation where Tinubu wins the presidency but lacks sufficient APC lawmakers to support his administration.

“We don’t want Tinubu to come when he can’t form his National Assembly, and that is the danger we are seeing with what Wike and others are doing,” he added.

Asked whether Wike could constitute a danger to Tinubu’s 2027 victory, Aliyu responded: “In some cases, yes.”

He said political leaders should be mindful of the hardship faced by Nigerians and focus on persuading voters rather than making statements capable of further angering the electorate.

“Instead of us begging, appealing, appeasing people, talk to people in such a way that they will vote for us again; we don’t want anybody who will come and insult Nigerians,” he said.

Aliyu acknowledged that many Nigerians were unhappy with government policies, saying the APC was aware of the economic difficulties and was trying to improve its performance and regain public confidence.

He consequently urged Wike to moderate his rhetoric, particularly when addressing Nigerians and APC leaders.

“Despite the fact that, look, we know there’s a lot of hardship, we are trying to do better things, things that will bring people to believe in us,” Aliyu said.

“But just because you want to support the president, you insult people anyhow, or insult our leaders.”

The lawmaker stressed that Wike was not an APC member and should therefore be treated as a member of the opposition.

“What I said, look, he’s not a member of our party, so we will treat Wike as a member of the opposition,” he said.

Aliyu, however, said he was not regretting Wike’s contribution to Tinubu’s emergence in 2023 or his subsequent appointment into the Federal Government.

He explained that the concern was that Wike’s current political activities could become counterproductive if they continued to clash with APC structures and interests.

“We are not regretting that Wike worked for us. We are worried that if he goes on like this, it will be more of an arbitrary act than an asset,” he said.

Aliyu also drew a distinction between Wike’s role in 2023, when he was still firmly within the PDP, and his current political position.

He said Wike’s decision to oppose the PDP’s presidential candidate in 2023 had benefited the APC, but argued that the circumstances should not be repeated within the ruling party.