Aggrieved members and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo, Kwara, Jigawa, Gombe, Cross River, Osun, Katsina, Bayelsa, Ebonyi and Ogun have started aligning with the political Rainbow Coalition led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The development is however sharpening internal tensions within the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general election, according to Punch Newspapers.
Many APC figures who have either left the party or expressed deep dissatisfaction with its internal processes have endorsed Wike’s cross-party platform.
The Progressive Governors Forum, led by the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, had on Monday described the coalition as a threat to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.
The development has since generated controversy, as some members of the APC supported the governors while others backed Wike.
However, a national leader of the APC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the Rainbow Coalition as an alternative group for aggrieved APC leaders and an extension of President Bola Tinubu’s platform to actualise his re-election.
According to him, many leaders of the APC are supporting Wike because of the way the governors handled the party’s primaries.
“Wike has the support of the President on his Rainbow Coalition. It is an alternative platform for aggrieved APC members who may want to join the ADC (African Democratic Congress).
“So, instead of joining the ADC, they move to the PDP where they will be given a ticket or recognition with assurance from them that they will work for Tinubu.
“Anybody who left the party (APC) for ADC is considered as an enemy, but if you join PDP, which is led by Wike, you are not a threat. PDP or Wike’s Rainbow Coalition is an extension of the APC.
“Wike is taking care of the national leaders of the APC. He is generous and also delivering projects. The President is happy with him.
“A lot of APC leaders are supporting him, and don’t be surprised if the number of APC governors reduces in 2027. Wike is playing a very good game,” he said.
Another official of the APC, who also spoke on condition of anonymity on Saturday, stated that leaders who were aggrieved as a result of the primaries had resolved to work for the President and might not necessarily support the party’s candidates in their various states.
He maintained that Tinubu’s victory remained the major concern of the party, adding that each candidate and those who fielded them should manage the party’s affairs to secure their victory.
“The victory of Mr President in the next year’s election is sacrosanct and remains our major concern.
“Whatever Wike and the APC governors are doing is of lesser concern because, before now, some people who felt cheated by their governors in the party’s primaries have joined Wike.
“Wike is a strong mobiliser for Mr President’s re-election, so how do you think we will work against him on that? The governors should have managed the post-primary crises very well.
“The governors believe they have the power to decide who becomes what; who they will give a ticket and all that.
“Other members of the party who felt cheated also have the right to form an alliance with anybody that will protect their interest. The ultimate goal is for Tinubu to win a second term,” he said.
Findings revealed that aggrieved APC leaders in no fewer than 10 states have left the party to join the Wike-led PDP.
From Kwara to Gombe, Cross River, Osun, Katsina, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ogun, Jigawa, and Ondo, prominent APC figures who lost out in the party’s nomination processes or fell out with their state leaderships have defected to the PDP.
In Kwara, aggrieved APC leaders, including Dr Tajudeen Olesin and some other members of The Otoge Progressives, have declared support for Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.
Speaking, Olesin said he joined Wike’s Rainbow Coalition after being maltreated in Kwara APC politics.
He described the ongoing battle between Wike and the APC governors as technical, saying that the governors were fighting the minister because they didn’t want opposition in their states.
“The issue is highly technical. Our President has never for once complained about Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.
“Some governors approached Wike that they should not field candidates in their states, including Kwara. Is that democracy? Why are you afraid of opposition?
“If you have done well for your people, why would you be afraid of opposition? Any governor who has performed well need not worry about the opposition,” he said.
Olesin described the Rainbow Coalition as an alternative platform to deliver victory for Tinubu.
He said, “I contested under APC and left the party to join Wike’s camp, and he welcomed me. In PDP, we have agreed that we don’t have a presidential candidate; we are supporting Tinubu. If we give him our votes and the APC brings its votes, that will amount to bloc votes, instead of taking our vote to another party. So, what are the governors afraid of?”
Apart from Olesin, the senator representing Kwara Central, Senator Saliu Mustapha, has also left the APC for PDP, declaring Wike’s coalition as an alternative platform.
APC members who have also left the party for PDP in the state include two members of the state House of Assembly, Saba Gideon and Olushola Odetundun.
For Osun, a senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District, Olubuyi Fadeyi, left the APC after losing his return ticket and picked the PDP ticket with Wike’s support.
In Katsina State, two members of the House of Representatives, Shehu Tafoki and Shehu Dalhatu, dumped the APC for the PDP.
Also in Ondo State, a former APC chieftain, Idowu Mafimisebi, who lost the party’s ticket for Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency, left the party for Wike support PDP alongside an aspirant for Ondo South Senatorial District, Matthew Oyerinmade.
In Ogun State, a former House of Assembly aspirant, Mustapha Owolabi, defected from the APC to the PDP.
Other notable APC chieftains who have left the party to join PDP include a former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, and a former Gombe South APC Senator, Anthony Yaro.
Speaking on why the governors are opposing Wike, Olesin said personal ambitions, especially by Uzodinma and Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, were responsible for the face-off.
He claimed that Uzodinma was planning to become the Senate President in 2027, while Wike was supporting the return of the current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
“What is happening is that Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, wants to become the Senate President in 2027, whereas his governorship will finish by 2028. He plans to resign and give the governorship seat to his deputy, become a senator and contest for the position of Senate President.
“But Wike said he couldn’t support somebody from the South-East. If Asiwaju is coming back as the President, let the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, come back as well. That is why Uzodinma and the Kwara State Governor are fighting Wike,” he said.
But the Special Adviser on Party Affairs to the Kwara governor, Mashood Alaka, alleged that Wike’s Rainbow Coalition was aimed at building a political structure that could position him for the 2031 presidential race.
Alaka said Wike was using the coalition and his support for Tinubu’s re-election to build alliances with politicians across party lines, particularly governors, ahead of the next presidential cycle.
Alaka said the contradiction in Wike’s position was that he was seeking the support of politicians within the APC-led government for Tinubu while remaining a PDP member and supporting candidates of the opposition party at other levels.
“What Wike said to the APC governors, especially Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Governor Hope Uzodinma, is out of order. He is a former governor and he knows how things work.
“The whole coalition thing is to mislead the APC into believing he is for them. Everybody knows that he has his own ambitions and is trying to get some of the governors to his side in 2027 ahead of 2031, so that he can be well-positioned to contest for the presidency,” he said.
Alaka argued that Wike should either remain in the PDP and operate as a member of the opposition party or formally join the APC if he intended to work within its political structure.
He also questioned the rationale behind supporting Tinubu for the presidency while backing opposition candidates for the National Assembly.
“If you want to stay in the PDP, stay in the PDP. If you want to work with the APC, work with the APC.
“If truly he is supporting Mr President, he shouldn’t be fielding candidates for the National Assembly. If Mr President wins and his party is in the minority at the National Assembly, it is going to be an issue at the end of the day,” Alaka added.
He said the APC was capable of securing Tinubu’s re-election without Wike’s coalition.
The Kwara governor’s aide also dismissed concerns that the emergence of political coalitions could threaten the APC administration in the state, saying the AbdulRazaq government had enough structures to deliver the party’s candidates in 2027.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka, rejected the claim that Wike was positioning himself to run for president in 2031.
Olayinka, who spoke with the PUNCH, stated that Alaka’s position was based on a misunderstanding of the politics of power rotation between the northern and southern parts of the country.
He noted that the South would have completed eight years in power by 2031 if Tinubu secured a second term, making a further continuation of the presidency in the South difficult under the rotation arrangement he described.
“By 2031, the South would have finished its eight years, so how can the presidency remain in the South after 2031? This should show you that they don’t know what they are talking about,” Olayinka said.
He explained that one of the reasons Wike supported Tinubu in 2023 was to support the emergence of a Southern president and that his support for the President’s 2027 re-election was intended to sustain the arrangement for eight years before power returns to the North.
Olayinka also dismissed Alaka’s argument that Wike’s support for Tinubu while remaining in the PDP could create problems for the President if the APC failed to secure a majority in the National Assembly.
He noted that the composition of the National Assembly and the emergence of its presiding officers would only be determined after the election, based on the party that secured the required majority.
“It is the party that produces the majority in the Senate that will produce any President of the Senate, and we are yet to have an election,” he said.
According to him, discussions about who would emerge as Senate President were premature because the matter would ultimately be determined by elected senators and their political party.
Efforts to get a response from Uzodinma through his Chief Press Secretary, Oguike Nwachukwu, and the Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, were unsuccessful.
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