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.
