Atiku Fires Back at Wike Over ADC Remarks

A war of words has broken out between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, after the minister publicly declared that Atiku’s African Democratic Congress (ADC) would fail to secure 10 per cent of votes in Rivers State during the 2027 presidential election.

Wike made the declaration at a Sunday luncheon held in honour of candidates of the Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections in Rivers State. The former Rivers governor went further, asserting that no governorship candidate outside his Rainbow Coalition would win the state’s governorship contest in that election cycle.

Atiku responded sharply on Monday through a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, describing the minister’s remarks as both alarming and revealing.

“Rivers voters are not your property. The people of Rivers State are not political slaves. They are intelligent, independent-minded Nigerians who will make their choices based on the realities confronting them and the future they desire for their children,” the statement read.

Atiku argued that no individual, regardless of influence or proximity to federal power, holds the authority to determine how an entire state votes. He framed Wike’s comments as evidence of deepening anxiety within the Tinubu administration over the growing strength of the ADC as an opposition platform.

According to the statement, the former vice president said it was “both amusing and disturbing” that Wike now speaks as though Rivers voters are personal property to be allocated at will.

Atiku also questioned the minister’s priorities, noting that ordinary Nigerians remain far more preoccupied with the surging cost of living, deteriorating security, and widening economic hardship than with the electoral forecasts of a minister who, in his view, appears to have traded governance for permanent campaign mode.

The exchange marks an early but pointed escalation in what is shaping up to be a fiercely contested 2027 electoral season, with political alignments already hardening more than a year before the vote.