Several state chapters of the All Progressives Congress have rejected the Rainbow Coalition associated with Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, urging the former Rivers State governor to formally join the ruling party if he intends to support President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
The reactions followed renewed disagreements between Wike and APC governors over the political structure being promoted by the FCT minister ahead of the 2027 general elections. Wike remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party while serving in the Federal Government led by the APC.
The Rainbow Coalition is intended to bring together politicians and supporters from different political parties around support for Tinubu at the presidential level. Wike has maintained that members of the coalition can support Tinubu for president while retaining their preferred candidates for governorship and legislative elections.
The position has, however, generated opposition from several APC leaders who argue that support for the President should extend to candidates contesting under the APC platform at other levels.
In Imo State, APC leaders rejected the coalition and called on Wike to formally join the ruling party. The state chapter maintained that the APC already had its own political structure and candidates ahead of the elections.
The Imo APC position was consistent with an earlier declaration by the APC Governors Forum. In September, the forum said its members would not support any alliance or political arrangement capable of weakening the APC, undermining Tinubu’s re-election or adversely affecting the party’s candidates at any level.
The Gombe State APC also urged Wike to complete what it described as his political transition by joining the ruling party. The party’s publicity secretary, Murtala Usman, argued that the coalition could create confusion among APC stakeholders because it would involve supporting candidates from different political platforms.
Similar concerns were raised by the Ondo State chapter. Its secretary, Alex Kalejaiye, said the chapter did not support an arrangement under which the coalition would back Tinubu for president while supporting candidates from other parties in governorship and legislative contests.
Kalejaiye said the APC’s objective was to mobilise support for its candidates across the ballot, rather than restrict its campaign to the presidential election.
The reactions were not uniform across all APC chapters, however. In Jigawa State, the party welcomed Wike’s support for Tinubu and said it would accept him if he decided to defect to the APC. The chapter also said Wike’s political activities would not necessarily undermine the party because the APC maintained its own structures.
The disagreement reflects a broader debate over how political alliances should operate ahead of the 2027 elections. Wike has defended the Rainbow Coalition by pointing to the experience of the G5 governors during the 2023 election, when some PDP governors supported Tinubu for president while their parties retained candidates for other positions.
He has also argued that the current coalition is primarily focused on securing support for Tinubu and does not prevent politicians from maintaining their individual party affiliations or supporting candidates of their choice in other contests.
The dispute escalated after APC governors, led by Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Hope Uzodimma, publicly distanced themselves from the coalition. The governors said their campaign commitment was exclusively to APC candidates at all levels.
Wike subsequently accused some APC governors of opposing the coalition because of their own political interests. He has particularly criticised Uzodimma over what he described as political calculations surrounding the next leadership of the National Assembly, though those allegations have been presented as Wike’s claims rather than established facts.
The controversy highlights competing approaches within Tinubu’s broader political camp ahead of the 2027 elections. While Wike is advocating a cross-party structure focused on presidential support, several APC chapters insist that such support should operate within the party’s established structure and include its candidates at all levels.
With political parties and emerging alliances intensifying preparations for the 2027 polls, the disagreement over the Rainbow Coalition is likely to remain part of the wider contest over party structures, candidate support and political mobilisation.
