Why I'll never support Uzodimma to become Senate President

Nigeria’s Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has vowed that he will never support Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State to emerge as the country’s Senate President in 2027.

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Mr Wike disclosed this on Monday night when he appeared as a guest on TVC News’ Journalists’ Hangout which was monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

“Of course, life or death, I will never support Hope Uzodinma to become the Senate President of Nigeria. Everybody knows that,” he said.

The FCT minister suggested that Mr Uzodimma was opposed to his Rainbow Coalition Movement because the governor believed the movement would affect his ambition to become Senate president.

Mr Wike runs the Rainbow Coalition, a multi-party political arrangement, to support President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

The All Progressives Congress governors, under the aegis of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), are opposed to the coalition, describing it as a political arrangement that could undermine the party and its candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.

The PGF is chaired by Mr Uzodimma, who has picked the APC’s ticket for Imo West District despite the fact that his tenure as governor will elapse in January 2028, six months after the next Senate would have been inaugurated in June 2027.

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‘Personal interests, ambition’

Speaking on the TV show, Mr Wike accused Mr Uzodimma of using his position to advance his personal political ambitions.

He argued that some governors who lost out in the APC’s nomination process found alternative platforms to contest the 2027 elections.

“Now, the other people who they have removed and not given tickets have found an alternative to run. And he (Uzodimma) knows that if they run and they win, it means that they are not going to support him to be the Senate President and that knowing fully well that they are running under Wike’s support of PDP, they will not support them,” he said.

‘How Hope Uzodimma planned to become Senate President’

Mr Wike alleged that Mr Uzodimma had perfected his plans to emerge as Senate President by convincing other governors to insist on nominating loyal senatorial and House of Representatives candidates.

“He (Uzodimma) wants to run for Senate president, and what he does is to say to his colleagues, let us be the ones (governors) who will produce the senators and members of the House of Representatives and some of the Senators.

“Of course, some of the governors are not experienced. So they will buy it, thinking that he is trying to make them powerful. Not knowing that he has his own interest and agenda to become Senate President,” he said.

‘You came from fourth’

Mr Wike appeared to question Mr Uzodimma’s political strength, recalling how he became governor after taking fourth position in the 2019 governorship election in Imo State.

“Hope Uzodinma. Maybe, to God be the glory, he became a governor by taking fourth position. To the glory of God, he became a governor and that is how this country will open her eyes and say what is going on,” he said.

Background

Mr Uzodimma became governor of Imo State in 2020 after the Supreme Court nullified the election of the then- Governor Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP, and declared Mr Uzodimma, who came fourth in the 2019 election, as the validly elected governor of the state.

The governor’s second term in office will elapse by January 2028.

Meanwhile, the next Senate is expected to be inaugurated in June 2027.

Mr Uzodimma earlier represented the Imo West district in the Senate from 6 June 2011 to 9 June 2019.

Looming resignation?

Multiple sources, in April, claimed that Mr Uzodimma had perfected plans to resign his position as governor before his expiration of tenure to pursue his senatorial ambition.

The sources said the governor had struck a deal with his deputy, Chinyere Ekomaru, to willingly resign her position which will pave the way for the appointment of a new deputy governor.

According to the alleged plot, the new deputy governor would serve as a “placeholder governor” in the event that he resigns to contest for Senate.

“The governor is actually fighting to be the Senate President. He’s banking on Tinubu to help secure the (Senate President) position,” one of the sources said.

READ ALSO: Again, Wike defends Rainbow Coalition, says Tinubu’s re-election remains his concern

But Mrs Ekomaru’s office, in early May, refuted claims that she had resigned from her position, describing them as false and misleading.

“This claim, as at this moment and the time it was trended, is entirely untrue and should be disregarded in its entirety,” the statement said, suggesting that the resignation could still happen in the nearest future.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Chinyere Ekomaru, is currently engaged in official duties as the number two citizen of this great state and continues to serve the state in her capacity as deputy governor,” the statement added.