The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has called for the renewal of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mandate in 2027, while FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has renewed his criticism of APC governors over their opposition to his proposed Rainbow Coalition.
The Oba spoke on Tuesday when a delegation of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, led by its Director-General, Senator Abdul’aziz Yari, visited the Benin Palace in Edo State.
Although the monarch stressed that the Benin traditional institution is not partisan, he said it was his prayer that Tinubu receives a renewed four-year mandate, adding that Nigerians should allow the President to continue with what he described as his good work.
The development has attracted attention because of the monarch’s comments ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with reports describing the statement as an endorsement of Tinubu’s second-term bid.
Meanwhile, Wike has rejected the position of APC governors who said they would not support political alliances capable of weakening the APC or undermining its candidates at different levels of the 2027 elections.
The APC Governors’ Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, had said its members would not participate in or endorse an arrangement capable of undermining Tinubu’s re-election bid, weakening the APC or adversely affecting its candidates.
Responding during an appearance on Arise TV’s Prime Time, Wike said he had never approached the APC Governors’ Forum to seek an alliance for his Rainbow Coalition. He described the governors who opposed the arrangement as “smart but politically lazy,” while insisting that supporting Tinubu for president did not necessarily mean supporting APC candidates in every other contest.
Wike also pointed to voting patterns from the 2023 elections to argue that Nigerian voters can support different parties at different levels of an election. He specifically referenced Imo and other states where, according to his argument, voters supported APC candidates in legislative contests while giving Tinubu a different level of support in the presidential election.
The political disagreement comes as parties and political actors begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the debate increasingly focused on whether presidential support can be separated from party loyalty in governorship and legislative contests.
Elsewhere, a video reportedly showing a severely deteriorated school environment in Rivers State has generated reactions online. The footage shows a man walking through classrooms and pointing to damaged structures, stagnant water and other conditions he describes as unsuitable for learning.
The authenticity, location and current status of the specific school shown in the circulating video could not be independently established from the available reports. However, the video has renewed wider concerns about infrastructure and learning conditions in some public schools in the state and across Nigeria.
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