President Bola Tinubu is set to intervene in the growing face-off between All Progressives Congress governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, ahead of the 2027 elections.

A senior presidential aide familiar with the development, who spoke exclusively to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the matter, said Tinubu was expected to engage the parties in a bid to resolve their differences.

The source added that the intervention was likely to take place abroad before the end of the week.

President Tinubu is currently on vacation in France.

Wike, a leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who is serving in the APC-led Federal Government as the FCT minister, has been promoting the Rainbow Coalition in Rivers State in support of Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections.

Wike, who has been at odds with some APC governors, alleged during a recent media chat that Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and his Imo counterpart Hope Uzodimma were behind his recent political challenges.

According to Wike, the governors’ opposition was linked to the growing national spread of his Rainbow Coalition, which he said was providing a platform for politicians seeking to challenge APC candidates in governorship and senatorial elections.

In an apparent response to Wike, Uzodimma, who chairs the APC Progressive Governors’ Forum, said after the forum’s meeting in Abuja on Monday night that APC governors would not support any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining Tinubu’s re-election or weakening the party ahead of the 2027 elections.

Uzodimma stressed that the governors’ campaign commitment was exclusively to APC candidates at all levels.

Wike, however, defended the coalition, maintaining that the alliance was designed to support Tinubu’s presidential bid while strengthening the PDP in other electoral contests against the APC.

He argued that his support for Tinubu did not amount to an endorsement of APC candidates across the states, insisting that he remained free to support candidates of his choice.

The former Rivers State governor also accused the APC governors of being politically weak and lacking the capacity to secure victory in their respective states.

Meanwhile, two APC leaders told our correspondent exclusively on Wednesday that the disagreement between Wike and the governors was also linked to political calculations for 2031, the leadership of the 11th National Assembly and Wike’s mobilisation of support for PDP candidates seeking to challenge the governors and their allies in other elective positions.

Consequently, several APC leaders and other stakeholders have expressed concern that, if left unresolved, the crisis could undermine President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.

However, the senior presidential aide disclosed that Tinubu would intervene to broker peace and prevent Wike and the governors from working at cross-purposes.

The source stated, “You know, the President is the leader of the party and the father of the nation. The interesting aspect is that the governors and the minister are all working in the interest of the President and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“So, of course, President Tinubu will intervene in the face-off between the All Progressives Congress governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. There will be an intervention to broker a truce and resolve whatever differences exist between them, ensuring that all parties work together ahead of the coming election.

“The intervention is likely to take place abroad before the end of the week.”

S’East APC reacts

In a related development, APC South-East leaders have voiced strong support for Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma and the Progressive Governors’ Forum, rejecting recent criticisms from the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike.

The position appears in a joint statement signed by the APC National Vice Chairman, South-East, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, and the party chairmen of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. The statement was made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

Describing Wike’s comments as “most unfortunate, reprehensible and completely unacceptable,” the South-East APC called on the minister to withdraw his attacks and return to “party discipline, mutual respect and collective responsibility.”

The statement said the Progressive Governors are elected, performance-driven leaders whose records and electoral achievements — including securing more than 25 per cent of the presidential vote in their states in 2023 — merit respect. It accused Wike of seeking to influence the political fortunes of serving APC governors ahead of the 2027 elections and stressed that a minister has no authority over elected governors.

“It is more troubling that Wike’s growing tendency to insult, diminish and plot to remove sitting Progressive Governors in 2027 is increasing each day,” the leaders said.

They also rejected what they described as a “rainbow (chameleon) coalition” in the South-East, warning that the APC would resist any attempt to undermine its regional structures. The statement declared: “We in the South East stand solidly with all Progressive Governors and candidates of our party at all levels in the forthcoming 2027 elections.”

The South-East leaders added that the APC is “bigger than any individual,” and urged members to support the party’s candidates — from President Bola Tinubu down to State Houses of Assembly — in 2027.

Ex-Rep slams Wike

Former House Minority Leader Farouk Adamu-Aliyu has warned that FCT Minister Nyesom Wike will not be allowed to fracture the All Progressives Congress as he allegedly did the Peoples Democratic Party.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Adamu-Aliyu said the APC appreciated Wike’s role in weakening the PDP ahead of the 2023 presidential election, but cautioned that Wike cannot use his support for President Bola Tinubu to influence or divide the ruling party.

“We want to appease Nigerians. You don’t talk to people in such a way that they don’t vote for us again. So we don’t want anybody who will come and insult Nigerians,” he said, adding that while the party recognises the hardship facing citizens, it is working to regain their confidence ahead of 2027.

Adamu-Aliyu criticised Wike’s tone toward voters and APC leaders. “Despite the fact that we know there is a lot of hardship, we are trying to do better things that will make people believe in us. But just because you want to support the president, you insulted people anyhow and even insulted our leaders.”

On Wike’s role, he stressed that the minister is not an APC member and cannot dictate the party’s affairs. “Look, Wike is not a member of our party. So we will treat him as a member of the opposition,” Adamu-Aliyu said, acknowledging Wike’s contribution to weakening the PDP but rejecting any attempt to use the APC to build a rival faction.

“We appreciate everything Wike has done for us. In fact, anybody who is willing to destroy his party for us, we will welcome him… However, we will not allow him to use our party to build his own party,” he added.

When asked whether the party regretted appointing Wike to Tinubu’s administration, Adamu-Aliyu said there was no regret but expressed concern that Wike’s actions could become “an albatross.” He noted a distinction between Wike’s 2023 role within the PDP and his present position outside the APC.

“If he had told us [about his approach], perhaps we wouldn’t be exchanging words with Wike,” he said, insisting that no APC leader authorised Wike to act unilaterally.

Asked what he would do as president, Adamu-Aliyu said he would keep disputes out of the public eye and manage relations privately. “I will tell Wike and members of my party that look, this gentleman helped us, and we are still going to use him. So, please work with him. Now, Wike will also have to accept that our party is supreme in this thing.”

He urged the party to seek forgiveness from Nigerians for past mistakes and to avoid rhetoric that alienates voters. “We are trying to convince people to forgive some of our mistakes and give us an opportunity to make amends. It is not to come and anger people and speak anyhow,” he said.

Efforts to reach Lere Olayinka, Wike’s media aide, were unsuccessful; he did not answer calls to his mobile phone or respond to WhatsApp messages as of the time this report was filed.

Source: punchng.com

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The Anambra State Government has said the administration of former Governor Peter Obi left unpaid loans from eight different external borrowings as of the time he left office on March 17, 2014, adding that as of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.4 billion.

The Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, disclosed this in a press statement in Awka on Wednesday, while responding to claims Obi made that he did not leave any unpaid loan in the state.

Mefor said the state summarised the latest report from the Debt Management Office on Anambra’s debt status (as of June 2026), indicating the dates the loans were signed and the balance remaining.

He explained that, from the evidence, Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc and so far, the current government was repaying hundreds of millions of naira every month to service these debts, though it said it was not complaining.

He added that the clarification became necessary to set the record straight.

Recall that Obi, who is also the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, had challenged the earlier claims of “unpaid loans” by the Anambra State Government on his record while in office, insisting he owed no one in pensions, salaries or contract jobs done.

He also challenged that if there are proofs, he will stop campaigning.

The NDC presidential candidate also rejected claims by the Anambra State Government that his administration left behind inherited debts, including a N2bn ecological loan, contractor liabilities and unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions.

Obi, in a statement on X on Tuesday, described the claims as “completely false,” saying his administration had cleared more than N35bn in historical gratuities and arrears and handed over the state without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.

He said, “We systematically liquidated historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years, amounting to over N35bn.

“At the point of handover, the state owed nothing in salaries, gratuities, or pensions, nor did we owe anything to any contractor for projects duly executed and certified,” he added.

Obi also specifically disputed the claim concerning the N2bn ecological fund, explaining that the money was released shortly before he left office for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.

According to Obi, the money was left untouched in a First Bank account in UNIZIK, Awka Branch.

He also vowed to quit the 2027 presidential race if the state government showed evidence that he left debts or owed any contractor.

But reacting to Obi’s claims in the series of documents, Mefor said Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of the water corporation, adding that the former governor left a state without any functioning urban or rural water schemes; increasing insecurity and increased poverty, ostensibly dead public schools and dead public hospitals with grossly inadequate teachers and medical personnel.

On the ecological funds, Mefor said Obi blatantly lied about any ecological fund account or deposit with the First Bank of Nigeria, UNIZIK branch, Awka, and wondered how the former governor invented the N2bn ecological fund matter and went ahead to fabricate lies about it.

Mefor insisted that the account in question is an “Internally Generated Revenue – Consolidated Revenue Account”, and not an ecological fund account as claimed by Obi, adding that from 2011, when the account was opened to date, there has never been any such amount, whether as inflow or balance, in the account.

The document was titled, ‘Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies’.

It read, “Our attention has been drawn to a viral post by a former Governor of Anambra, HE Mr Peter Obi, CON, on what he described as ‘Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy’, which presumably was in response to some statements in a podcast by the Anambra State Commissioner for Finance.

“We understand that this is a campaign season and candidates often go to the extremes to impress. If not for the fact that the said post was on his personal handle, we would not have believed that he could have made such wild and verifiably false claims.

“As a government, we are focused 100 per cent on delivering dividends of democracy to millions of Ndi Anambra. However, when a former governor of the state makes some outlandish claims about the state of public debt he left behind, and especially when the present government has been spending billions of Naira servicing the same debt, a responsible government owes the public a response in the interest of transparency and accountability.

“We have no time to join issues. We will simply state the facts here for the record, and they are:

“Fact 1: HE Peter Obi Spent about $4.05 billion (equivalent to N5.4 trillion at the current exchange rate) in eight years and also contracted $123.77 million in external debt alone, for which our government has so far paid billions of Naira in service payments.

“Fact 2: As of the date HE Peter Obi left office (17th March 2014), there were and still are eight different external borrowings his administration left for his successors.

“As of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by HE Peter Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.4 billion. Here we summarise the latest report from the Debt Management Office on Anambra’s debt status (as of June 2026), indicating the dates the loans were signed and the balance remaining.

“Fact No. 3: HE Peter Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of Water Corporation

Fact No.4: HE Peter Obi blatantly lied about any Ecological Fund account or deposit with the First Bank of Nigeria, UNIZIK branch, Awka. In the podcast by the Commissioner for Finance, he never mentioned any N2bn ecological fund loan. The video is there. Where did HE Peter Obi invent the N2bn ecological fund matter and go ahead to fabricate lies about it?”

Reacting to Obi’s claim on clearing all inherited arrears of pensions, salaries and gratuities, the government said, “HE Peter Obi made very strong statements about clearing all inherited arrears of pensions, salaries and gratuities. That claim is patently false. We do not want to get into the debate between him and his predecessors regarding which arrears were paid by them or by him.

“Our administration has cleared about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears of retired state and local government employees and teachers. However, there are still legacy arrears which have lingered since the time of HE Peter Obi.

“First, there are arrears of salaries to staff of defunct Water Corporation, which lingered throughout Peter Obi’s tenure, culminating in court processes and judgments. It is this administration that has negotiated a settlement and already paid the first two instalments of the agreed three instalment payments.

“Second, there are arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities owed to primary school teachers under the local government system during Gov Mbadinuju’s tenure.

“The attention of our administration has recently been drawn to these lingering arrears. We have been informed that the government of Peter Obi verified and certified the debt of 16 months of salary arrears and agreed to pay in tranches.

“It only paid five months and no more until today. This administration has set up a committee headed by the Head of Service to finalise a new verification for us to pay.

“So, Your Excellency Peter Obi, you owed salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can testify. It is not good to speak loudly without facts or with fabricated figures.

“How can you say that if we show one person that you owed, you will quit your 2027 presidential campaign? No, we don’t want you to quit, and we wish you well. But you obviously lied: you owed many, not one, and those debts are yet to be fully cleared even today.”

The statement continued, “HE Peter Obi wrote without any equivocation that as at the date he left office, March 17, 2014, he left the ‘balance of over N2.13 billion in a First Bank Account No.2018779464, UNIZIK branch, Awka’. He subsequently charged that if the claim is found to be false, he ‘would stop campaigning’.

“Well, we have obtained a certified printout of the said account from inception to date. First, the account is an Internally Generated Revenue – Consolidated Revenue Account, and not an ecological fund account. Second, from 2011, when the account was opened to date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account.

“Since Peter Obi raised the issue and admitted that his government received such an amount, and it is evident that no such amount ever entered into the account that he cited, it behoves Peter Obi to tell us where exactly his government kept the money or is the money missing?

“There must be something about this N2.13bn that he should bring up even when it was never mentioned by the Hon. Commissioner. Curious!”

According to him, the issue was not whether or not borrowing is good, as no business or government can scale significantly without some debt.

He added, “Yes, we converted the audited and published expenditures using the average official exchange rates during the eight years of HE Peter Obi, and they sum to about US$4.05 billion.

“At the current official exchange rate, it would sum to about N5.4 trillion, and he surely governed to the best of his ability. Of course, no government will ever finish the work of development.

“We are convinced that many Ndi Anambra would not have minded if HE Peter Obi had borrowed to fix public schools and hospitals, water schemes, infrastructure, or even to reduce poverty and insecurity.

“Debt, especially for bankable projects and human capital development, is justifiable. So, HE Peter Obi should stop being irked as if all debt is bad.

“Finally, we do not wish to be drawn into the nebulous creative accounting that generated the phantom N75 billion ‘savings’ or ‘investment’ which the previous administration has vigorously disputed.”

When contacted, Obi’s camp said it was focused on responding to the substantive issues raised by the Anambra State Government.

The camp also described the Presidency as a “meddlesome interloper” for wading into the controversy over the financial liabilities allegedly left behind by Obi’s administration in Anambra State.

Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, in an exclusive phone interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, said a team of former officials who worked with Obi as governor was preparing a detailed response to the claims made by the Anambra State Government.

The development followed the intervention of the Presidency in the dispute after the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, challenged Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if his claim that he left Anambra without outstanding debts was disproved.

Onanuga wrote on X, “Peter Obi claimed he left Anambra with a clean slate of debt and even threatened to quit the presidential race if his claims were proven otherwise.”

He added, “Now, the Anambra government has confronted him with facts and figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuities, and had also borrowed for frivolous things.

“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he asked.

Reacting, Zekeri said, “As for the Presidency, they are meddlesome interloper. So, we don’t bother ourselves with them, especially Bayo Onanuga who you referenced. They are just nothing but meddlesome interlopers.”

He said the response being prepared by members of Obi’s former administration would address the issues raised by the state government.

“Concerning the issue raised by the Anambra State government, our team, especially the one that worked with Obi when he was governor, is putting up a detailed reply.

“You will get it as soon as it is ready. This is not a campaign matter. It is a governance issue, and it is going to be addressed. I can assure you that it is nothing to worry about.”

Source: punchng.com

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