The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has urged supporters of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers state to mobilise voters for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
The minister promised that strong electoral support could attract more federal appointments and development projects to the state.
Wike made the appeal on Monday during a meeting with Fubara-aligned supporters and youth leaders in Port Harcourt.
He called for reconciliation between the rival political camps and urged them to put their differences aside to support Tinubu.
The minister said Rivers State could secure greater political influence and more federal appointments if it ranked among the three states with the highest number of votes for the president.
“All I want to hear in this state is Tinubu and nothing but Tinubu. If we play the role we are playing now, and we are one of the first three states that get the highest number of votes, we will get more of the appointments,” Wike said.
He argued that supporting the president would serve the interests of Rivers State, particularly its young people, and strengthen the state’s position in national politics.
Wike said his political ambition was no longer centred on becoming governor, adding that his priority was to ensure Rivers State remained influential in decisions at the federal level.
“I am not going to be governor again; this is for your own interest. I want this state to grow. I want this state to play an important role in the politics of Nigeria,” he said.
The former Rivers State governor also pointed to federal appointments given to indigenes of the state under Tinubu’s administration as evidence of the benefits of political alignment with the federal government.
He cited the construction and opening of major roads, including the Bonny road, as examples of infrastructure projects he said demonstrated the president’s commitment to Rivers State.
The minister further disclosed that political structures across different platforms were coming together to support Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He acknowledged that disagreements and grievances had emerged during the political crisis in Rivers State but urged party members and grassroots supporters to embrace reconciliation.
Wike said committees had been established to address complaints and ensure that members who felt marginalised were accommodated in the emerging political arrangement.
He also directed youth leaders across local government areas to return to their communities, reconcile aggrieved members and prepare for the formation of campaign committees ahead of Tinubu’s expected visit to the state.
Earlier, former Port Harcourt Mayor, Ezebunwo Ichemati, who spoke on behalf of Fubara’s supporters, pledged the group’s readiness to work with Wike and other members of the Rainbow Coalition to support Tinubu and candidates aligned with the political bloc.
Ichemati described the meeting as a turning point in Rivers State politics, saying it signalled a willingness by supporters of Wike and Fubara to work together after the divisions that characterised the state’s political crisis.
He also disclosed that Governor Fubara was aware of and supported the meeting with the FCT minister.
According to Ichemati, the political dispute between the two camps should be treated as an internal family disagreement that has now given way to reconciliation.
“Every family has its own peculiarity in problems. What matters most is that the family comes together, the children watch what has divided them, and decide to move forward,” he said.
He likened the reconciliation to a family resolving a dispute between parents, saying the children could reunite once the disagreement had been settled.
Ichemati also recognised Wike as the leading political figure in Rivers State and credited both the minister and Fubara with helping to bring the opposing camps together.
He said the coalition would draw on its grassroots network, including youths who had supported the different factions during the crisis, to mobilise support for its candidates.
“The state has been held back for a very long time. Now that you are bringing this peace initiative down to the youths, who are the foot soldiers, I want to assure you that we commit ourselves to join our brothers in the Rainbow Coalition,” he said.
“What you see here today will transform into a force that will deliver. We don’t want to say much. All we can say is: test us, try us, and we will deliver,” Ichemati added.
He said the group was prepared to support Tinubu and other candidates endorsed by the coalition, including Kingsley Chinda, whom he identified as its preferred candidate for the Rivers State governorship
