APC chairmen reject Wike’s Rainbow Coalition

The All Progressives Congress (APC) state chapters have rejected the Rainbow Coalition, which is the brainchild of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. Party leaders have demanded that Wike formally joins the ruling party if he is genuinely committed to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election. The reactions followed a renewed confrontation between the Minister 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.

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