By CHARLES IWUOHA

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has described the alleged exclusion of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, from the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council as a clear indication that his political influence was gradually waning.

Eze, a former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), said the development had exposed what he described as Wike’s alleged “eye-service and glory-is-mine style of politics.”

In a statement issued on Thursday, August 27, 2026, Eze said he was pleased by the development, insisting that the APC leadership appeared to be reassessing the political role and influence of the former Rivers State governor.

“I am a very happy man. Happy not because APC is involved, but because of the way the party shunned Wike from being a member of Its Presidential Campaign Council,” Eze said.

“Nigerians are aware of how Wike had, through his stooges, allegedly lobbied to be appointed the Director-General of the APC Campaign Council. Unfortunately for him, it seems the APC leadership is gradually coming to terms with the fact that Wike is a man who likes eye-service and takes glory for other people’s achievements.”

Eze argued that the reported development should not come as a surprise, particularly in the light of recent comments credited to the FCT minister concerning the outcome of the Osun State governorship election.

According to him, Wike’s claim that the APC could have won the election if he had been deployed to the state amounted to a disparagement of the party’s leadership and political structure.

“How do you look at a man who implied that the APC lost the Osun State governorship election because he was not involved?” Eze queried.

The ADC chieftain further alleged that Wike’s political style had become increasingly controversial, maintaining that the minister’s exclusion from the campaign structure, if confirmed, represented a significant setback for his political ambition ahead of the 2027 general election.

He dismissed as “flimsy and untenable” Wike’s reported position that he turned down a role in the APC Presidential Campaign Council because of his determination to retain political control of Rivers State.

Eze said Wike had already suffered what he termed political setbacks in Rivers State, accusing the former governor of contributing to the political crisis that had engulfed the state.

“Wike has already lost Rivers after putting the state through its worst political trauma through the state of emergency and what many have described as the waste of the common patrimony of the state on questionable projects,” he alleged.

The former nPDP spokesman also took a swipe at Wike over his reported threat to unleash political “fire” against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, ahead of the 2027 elections.

Eze described the statement as “the ranting of a drowning man looking for attention.”

“The daily steps towards the ouster of Tinubu from office will be the fire that will live and consume him before and after the 2027 general elections,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eze has berated Wike over comments credited to him following the August 15 Osun State governorship election, which was won by Governor Ademola Adeleke.

Wike had reportedly stated that President Bola Tinubu deliberately refused to interfere in the election, adding that he could have secured victory for the APC if he had been deployed to the state.

According to the FCT minister, “If the President had wanted to win the Osun State election at all costs, I would have been there and we would have won it, and there is nothing the Governor can do.”

Reacting, Eze described the statement as callous, unpatriotic and irresponsible, arguing that it amounted to an affront to the APC hierarchy, the party’s governors and other leaders, including the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

“I wept when I read the said report credited to Wike concerning the victory of Governor Adeleke in the recently conducted Osun State governorship election,” Eze said.

“That statement, to say the least, is callous, unpatriotic, irresponsible and an affront to the APC hierarchy, the party’s governors, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and other officials of the party.”

Eze alleged that Wike, through the comment, was portraying himself as more politically influential and strategically important than the leadership of the ruling party.

“Wike, in his loquacious nature, only deliberately and arrogantly told the world that he is bigger, richer, more influential and strategic than the APC top echelon,” he said.

“The fact that Wike is not a member of the APC has, perhaps, robbed off on his ambitious move to position himself as Tinubu’s 2027 campaign director-general.”

Eze, who was among the leaders of the nPDP bloc that later joined other political groups in the formation of the APC, further alleged that Wike’s remarks were aimed at convincing Tinubu that the President could not rely entirely on the existing APC political structure to prosecute the 2027 election.

He said the FCT minister’s comment had, by implication, reduced the party’s governors and other leaders to “mere political onlookers.”

“Wike has reduced the APC hierarchy, governors, Akpabio and others to mere political onlookers, while quietly positioning himself as the political machinery needed by Tinubu for the 2027 general elections,” Eze alleged.

“By Wike’s uncomplimentary remarks, he has unwittingly disclosed that he would be the machinery that would be used to win the 2027 general elections, especially the presidential election, for the APC.”

The ADC chieftain urged APC governors and leaders of the National Assembly not to remain silent over what he described as Wike’s “excesses,” warning that continued silence could undermine their political relevance.

He also faulted what he described as President Tinubu’s silence over some of Wike’s public utterances.

Eze alleged that the minister’s comments about the Osun election raised serious questions about the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process.

“This is an indictment of INEC, President Tinubu, the security agencies and Nigeria’s democratic system,” he said.

“How can one man boast of having the power to determine the outcome of an election and, after such an unpatriotic statement, nothing is done about it?”

He added that Nigerians should be vigilant ahead of the 2027 general election and ensure that the country’s democratic institutions were strengthened to guarantee that the will of the electorate prevailed.

Eze also expressed support for reported calls by some groups and youths demanding Wike’s resignation as FCT minister, saying Nigerians had a responsibility to hold political leaders accountable for their actions and statements.

“The outburst is a clarion call on Nigerians to sit up and ensure that the system that produced such political conduct is confronted through democratic means in 2027,” he said.

The statement was signed by Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, ADC chieftain, media consultant, public relations strategist and former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct nPDP.