Happiness Samuel

Several state chapters of the All Progressives Congress have rejected the Rainbow Coalition being promoted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, with party leaders asking the former Rivers State governor to formally join the ruling party if he is genuinely committed to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.

The reactions followed a renewed confrontation between Wike and APC governors over the political structure the FCT minister is assembling ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Wike is a Peoples Democratic Party member serving in a federal government led by an APC president.

The former Rivers governor was appointed FCT minister by Tinubu after the 2023 election, despite having remained a prominent PDP politician and having contested the presidency under the opposition party.

While some APC state chapters welcomed Wike’s support for Tinubu and said they would receive him if he decided to defect to the ruling party, others opposed the coalition outright, arguing that a politician could not simultaneously support the APC at the presidential level and candidates of other parties in governorship and legislative elections.

The development has exposed a growing disagreement within the President’s political camp over how support for his 2027 re-election should be organised and, more importantly, who should control the political structures through which such support is mobilised.

The latest dispute was triggered by Zamfara State Governor and APC governor, Dauda Lawal, who told Wike to choose between joining the APC and remaining with the Rainbow Coalition.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television’s Inside Sources on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, Lawal said the position of the APC governors was unchanged.

“Our message is very, very clear: Be on one side. You can’t be on two sides. If you’re in APC, please come out and support APC. Not you’re supporting APC here, and you’re supporting other political parties somewhere else. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not done anywhere,” Lawal said.

The Zamfara governor added, “And that is why we maintain our stand, and it is very clear—the message is very clear. He can speak, he can say whatever he wants to say, but our position has been very, very clear: APC all the way from head to toe.”

Asked whether the governors were asking Wike to join the APC, Lawal responded, “Exactly. What’s the essence?”

He further disclosed that he intended to raise Wike’s political position with President Tinubu.

“It’s something that I will take up with the President when he comes back. So, let there be a very, very clear line where this guy belongs to. It’s either he’s in APC or he’s out. It’s simple. And I go with my brothers, the governors,” Lawal stated.

The demand has since received varying degrees of support from APC chapters across the country.

Coalition faces resistance

In Imo State, the APC Publicity Secretary, Jones Onwuasoanya, said Wike was attempting to maintain an ambiguous political position and urged him to formally identify with the ruling party.

He added, “If Wike is sincere about his support for President Tinubu, then he should join the APC and begin to campaign for our party across all positions rather than being selective.”

The Imo APC spokesman dismissed the Rainbow Coalition as a political structure with little relevance in the state.

“As long as the All Progressives Congress in Imo State is concerned, there is nothing like a Rainbow Coalition or whatever it might be called. The APC is the only viable political platform in Imo State and Imolites are fully aligned with us,” he said.

He maintained that the party was confident of victory in 2027, saying, “There is no political arrangement or structure outside the APC that poses any threat to our Party’s electoral chances.”

In Gombe, the APC Publicity Secretary, Murtala Usman, similarly urged Wike to complete his political transition to the ruling party.

“My opinion is the same as the people who are advising him to join APC because APC doesn’t need any rainbow coalition for now,” Usman said.

He warned that such an arrangement could create confusion within the ruling party.

“That rainbow coalition will cause some confusion in the APC because those who are stakeholders in the APC, particularly in some states, will find it very difficult to handle,” he stated.

Usman argued that recent defections of PDP governors to the APC had already created difficulties for some long-standing party members.

“So Wike should switch to APC completely. Since he is doing the work of APC, let him be a full member, not a partial member,” he said.

Ondo rejects selective support

The Ondo State APC also rejected the idea of a coalition that would support Tinubu for president while backing candidates from other parties in other elections.

The state party secretary, Alex Kalejaiye, said the arrangement was unacceptable to the chapter.

“We are disturbed that the coalition would only support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the general elections, but field candidates for other positions,” he said.

According to him, APC’s objective was to deliver all its candidates and not just the presidential candidate.

“To us in Ondo State, support for the candidates of the ruling party must be total; our party is committed to mobilising votes for the President, three senatorial, nine representatives, and 26 House of Assembly candidates. That is not negotiable,” Kalejaiye stressed.

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