Several state chapters of the All Progressives Congress have rejected the Rainbow Coalition associated with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, with party leaders urging him to formally join the APC if he intends to support President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
The dispute followed comments by Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, who said APC governors wanted Wike to choose between joining the ruling party and remaining with the coalition. Lawal said the governors opposed a situation where Wike supported Tinubu for president while backing candidates from other parties in other elections.
The position has received support from APC chapters in states including Imo, Gombe, Ondo, Rivers, Anambra, Kwara, Plateau and Nasarawa. Several officials argued that divided support across different levels of the ballot could create confusion, while some called on Wike to collapse his structures into the APC.
Other chapters have been more receptive to Wike’s support for Tinubu. The Jigawa APC said it would welcome him if he chose to join the party, while factions within the Benue APC expressed differing views on whether he should defect. Some state chapters, including Osun and Delta, said the issue should be determined by the national leadership rather than individual state organisations.
Wike, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, has defended the coalition and said its support is specifically for Tinubu’s presidential re-election. Through his spokesman, he argued that the arrangement does not prevent other parties from fielding candidates for governorship and legislative positions, citing the political arrangement involving him and other members of the G5 before the 2023 election.
The minister has also maintained that politics is local and that political actors should be free to determine their alliances at the state level. Minister of Works David Umahi, however, said there was no Rainbow Coalition in Ebonyi, while APC officials in Sokoto, Niger and Bauchi said their chapters had no formal involvement in the arrangement and stressed the importance of clear party allegiance.
The disagreement has highlighted differing views within Tinubu’s political camp over how support for the President should be organised ahead of 2027. While APC figures are calling for Wike to formally identify with the ruling party, some PDP members, including Abia State deputy governorship candidate Abraham Amah, insist that Wike remains a PDP member and national leader.
