Powerful blocs within Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are moving against the National Rainbow Coalition championed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, warning that the arrangement could cost President Bola Tinubu critical votes in the 2027 presidential election. The coalition, which Wike has promoted despite remaining a registered member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is already causing political tensions in Rivers, Kwara, Gombe and Cross River states ahead of the 2027 general elections.
APC Governors Raise Alarm at Abuja Meeting
Sources close to APC governors said the issue was tabled at a recent meeting in Abuja, where participants warned that coalition members could privately instruct their supporters to vote PDP from top to bottom while publicly claiming allegiance to the president, Vanguard reported. The concern, the sources said, mirrors what happened in Oyo state during the 2023 elections, when voters who backed Tinubu's presidential bid still sent the state's National Assembly seats to the PDP.
A similar pattern played out in the South-West in 2003, when support for President Olusegun Obasanjo's re-election cost the Alliance for Democracy five governorship seats and most of its National Assembly positions across the region. Arise News Politics Editor Sunna Sambo raised a direct warning on the matter, saying: "The governors in the APC are already advising President Tinubu to be cautious of this coalition that Nyesom Wike is trying to put because they are afraid that on election day, not many people will be able to decipher between voting for President APC, and then voting for governors PDP, and then maybe voting for some other party. You see that the governors are already having a morbid fear that this coalition that Nyesom Wike is building may actually injure President Tinubu at some point."
Wike Defiant, Insists Coalition Backs Tinubu
Wike, speaking to journalists during a project inspection in Abuja, remained defiant, saying the coalition would grow and that his goal was to make opposition figures including Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi politically uncomfortable, Punch reported. He also insisted that Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke was firmly in the coalition's camp, telling reporters: "Adeleke is fully supporting Mr President and so we had to meet last night and encourage ourselves to continue."
Wike named Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma and Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as the leading voices against him within APC ranks, claiming both had benefited from his political backing without reciprocating. Despite the internal disputes, he maintained that delivering Tinubu's re-election remained his overriding priority.
Coalition Stirring Tension Across Four States
The friction is most visible in Rivers state, where Wike selected Ogundu Kingsley Chinda, a former PDP Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, as the coalition's consensus governorship candidate under the APC platform, despite Wike himself remaining in the PDP. Critics within the coalition argue that a candidate from the upland should not have been chosen while most coalition members come from the riverine areas.
In Kwara, former Senate President Bukola Saraki has aligned with Wike against Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and Senator Saliu Mustapha has formally resigned from the APC and received the PDP's Kwara Central senatorial ticket. In Gombe, former Communications Minister Isa Pantami moved to the PDP with coalition backing. In Cross River, a broad opposition grouping is challenging the APC's Governor Bassey Otu.
Rivers ADC Dares Wike
Previously, Legit.ng reported that the Rivers State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) hit back at FCT Minister Nyesom Wike over his remarks at a civic reception in Omagwa on Saturday, September 5, where he boasted that the ADC's vice presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, would be eliminated from contention by noon on election day. ADC state chairman Dr Chukwudi Dimkpa, speaking in Port Harcourt on Monday, September 7, dismissed the claims as empty.
The internal APC opposition to Wike's coalition is expected to intensify as the 2027 election cycle progresses, with governors and party leaders seeking to prevent vote fragmentation that could undermine Tinubu's re-election bid.
