Wike during a visit to the APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda in May.
The South-East leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday threw their weight behind the party’s governors over their stance on the controversial Rainbow Coalition floated by the Minster of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, describing it as the “rainbow (chameleon) coalition” and warned that the party would resist any attempt to weaken its structures in the region ahead of the 2027 general elections.
They accused the former Rivers State governor of plotting to remove some sitting APC governors in the 2027 elections, and described as “most unfortunate, reprehensible and completely unacceptable,” his derogatory remarks about the party’s governors.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that Wike had in an interview with Arise News on Tuesday, poured invectives on the APC governors, describing them as “smart like the 419ers” but politically lazy.
He also accused them of “carrying propaganda of illiteracy” over their unwillingness to work with him in order not to jeopardise the chances of President Bola Tinubu in 2027, noting that the chairman of the Forum, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, and his counterparts in the South-East lost the presidential election woefully in 2023 whereas they were able to secure between one and three senatorial seats in an election held the same day.
The South-East APC leaders, in a joint statement on Thursday, signed by the party’s National Vice Chairman in the zone, Dr Ijeomah Arodiogbu, and the state chairmen of the party in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, said they were backing the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and its position that APC candidates should receive the party’s support at all levels in the 2027 elections.
he APC Governors’ Forum had in a communique after their meeting at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, maintained that they would neither participate in, support nor endorse any political arrangement capable of weakening the APC or creating competing interests within the ruling party.
In his tantrums against the governors, Wike, declared that his Rainbow Coalition was strictly about galvanising support for Tinubu’s re-election and not necessarily an arrangement to support APC candidates in other elections.
The South-East APC leaders however rejected the arrangement contending that the governors criticised by Wike had delivered significant development in their respective states and secured more than 25 per cent of the presidential votes in their states during the 2023 election.
Positing that the “Progressive Governors are not abstract politicians” but “performing leaders whose records speak for themselves,” the APC leaders noted that the governors were independently elected leaders who deserved respect and warned that political differences should not give a minister the authority to interfere in the affairs of elected state governors.
The South-East APC chieftains further accused Wike of seeking to influence the political fortunes of their serving governors ahead of the 2027 elections, stressing that “It is more troubling that Wike’s growing tendency to insult, diminish and plot to remove sitting Progressive Governors in 2027 is increasing each day.”
They insisted that the party’s candidates should receive coordinated support from the presidency down to the state Houses of Assembly, emphasising that the PGF’s position was necessary to secure what they described as a comprehensive victory for the APC in the 2027 elections
They also called on Wike to withdraw his attacks on the governors and return to what they described as “party discipline, mutual respect and collective responsibility.”
Affirming their rejection of the Rainbow Coalition, the leaders warned that the APC would not allow any political arrangement to undermine its structures or diminish the influence of its candidates in the South-East.
According to them, “We in the South-East stand solidly with all Progressive Governors and candidates of our party at all levels in the forthcoming 2027 elections.”
Asserting that the APC was “bigger than any individual,” they urged members of the party in the region to remain committed to its structures and support APC candidates from President Bola Tinubu to the State Houses of Assembly in the 2027 elections.
The South-East leaders are however not alone in resisting Wike’s stranger political arrangement.
Earlier, another support group, the APC Grassroots Governance Organisation, warned Wike against what it described as attempts to create division within the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a statement on Wednesday signed by Mukthar Taminu, the group also rejected Wike’s political contraption – “Rainbow Coalition” being promoted by Wike, insisting that the platform is not an organ, campaign structure or alliance of the ruling APC.
The warning was a reaction to Wike’s clarification that his support for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election did not extend to other APC candidates contesting governorship and legislative elections.
Wike, in a statement on Tuesday by his senior special assistant on public communications and social media, Lere Olayinka, said he never promised that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not field candidates for governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections in 2027.
The minister insisted on his position to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election, while political parties and politicians remained free to contest elections in their respective states.
Wike also dismissed suggestions that the “Rainbow Coalition” being promoted in support of Tinubu was an APC arrangement.
But the APC Grassroots Governance Organisation argued that his position risked blurring the distinction between support for Tinubu and support for APC candidates contesting other positions.
