Several state chapters of the All Progressives Congress have reportedly distanced themselves from the Rainbow Coalition being championed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, with party leaders urging him to formally join the APC if he is truly committed to supporting President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
According to The Punch, the reactions followed the renewed disagreement between Wike and some APC governors over the political structure the FCT minister is building ahead of the next general election.
Although Wike remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, he currently serves in the APC-led Federal Government after being appointed FCT minister by President Tinubu following the 2023 election.
Despite retaining his membership of the PDP and having previously sought the party’s presidential ticket, Wike has continued to express support for Tinubu, a situation that has generated debate within political circles.
While some APC state chapters reportedly welcomed Wike’s backing of the President and indicated a willingness to receive him should he decide to defect to the ruling party, others rejected the Rainbow Coalition, arguing that it was inconsistent for a politician to support the APC presidential candidate while backing candidates of other parties in governorship and legislative elections.
The development has further exposed divisions within the President’s political camp regarding how support for his 2027 re-election bid should be coordinated and who should control the structures responsible for mobilising such support.
Speaking on the issue, the Plateau State APC Chairman, Rufus Bature, said the party was unaware of the existence of any Rainbow Coalition structure in the state.
“We don’t know anything about Rainbow Coalition in Plateau State. I’m just coming from a retreat in Maiduguri with the APC National Chairman and other members of the National Working Committee and Rainbow Coalition was condemned totally for every state,” Bature said.
“If it is going to work in Rivers, that is their problem, but for other states, nobody should go and do anything like Rainbow Coalition,” he added.
Bature, however, said Wike was free to join the APC if he wished, stressing that the party did not prevent people from becoming members. He maintained that Wike could not simultaneously operate as a member of both the APC and the PDP, insisting that such an arrangement would not be acceptable to the party.
He also suggested that the Rainbow Coalition might be part of Wike’s long-term political calculations, claiming that the FCT minister could be building a political structure for future elections, particularly those of 2031 or 2035.
On the possibility of the coalition becoming a challenge to the APC, Bature acknowledged that it could pose a threat but said the party was not treating it lightly