The widening disagreement over how to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election has drawn a blunt response from Ima Niboro, a spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
Niboro has told the contending political actors to stop trading words and demonstrate their strength at the grassroots.
Niboro’s intervention came amid an increasingly public disagreement between FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over Wike’s proposed Rainbow Coalition for Tinubu’s re-election.
The development has its roots in the political crisis that preceded the 2023 presidential election.
Wike and four other PDP governors broke with the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and formed the G5 group.
The five governors, Wike, Seyi Makinde, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, refused to support Atiku in the presidential election.
They cited disagreements within the PDP leadership and their demand for greater internal balance.
Wike subsequently became a minister in Tinubu’s administration despite retaining his PDP membership.
The development created an unusual political arrangement in which a prominent opposition politician became part of an APC-led federal government.
That relationship has continued into the preparations for 2027.
Wike has declared his support for Tinubu while maintaining that the PDP should remain free to contest governorship and legislative elections against APC candidates.
Wike’s current push for a Rainbow Coalition is built around the idea of bringing politicians from different parties together specifically for the presidential contest.
He said such an arrangement will benefit the president rather than creating a conventional merger or replacing existing party structures.
The proposal has nevertheless met resistance from APC governors.
They have maintained that their political machinery will remain focused on the party and its candidates at all levels of the 2027 elections.
The disagreement became sharper after Wike described the APC governors as “politically lazy” for rejecting the coalition.
But Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Senator Hope Uzodimma, defended the governors’ position.
Wike subsequently questioned Uzodimma’s record in delivering support for Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election.
He insisted that his own objective was to mobilise votes for the President rather than determine who should win governorship or legislative elections in the states.
But speaking on Arise Television’s The Morning Show , Nibiro urged the political leaders to take their campaign to voters instead of continuing the public exchanges.
“When I said tone down the rhetoric, I do not mean stop working. Stop talking, go and work,” he said.
Niboro said political leaders should establish their authority through direct engagement with their constituencies rather than through television appearances and public arguments.
“All this shouting is not taking anybody anywhere. Go and work. Go and establish your authority on your political base,” he said.
He urged the politicians to engage voters in communities, marketplaces and other grassroots locations.
“Get on the TV cameras. Go to the people. Go to the streets. Go to the marketplaces. Go and win the people,” he added.
Niboro said the objective was not for either side to surrender its political territory, but for leaders claiming influence to demonstrate it through actual mobilisation.
“Stop all this high-sounding grammar that they are blowing everywhere is not leading anybody anywhere. Go and work,” he said.
He added: “If you’re a political leader, stop talking. Go and work. That is my point.”
Credit to our Media Partner DailyTrust .
