Unresolved Rainbow Coalition Simmering Crisis Fractures Tinubu’s Campaign Team
OpenLife News reports that a simmering crisis within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, over the controversial Rainbow Coalition of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has deepened, with aggrieved APC governors now allegedly exploring an alliance with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to counter Wike ahead of 2027.
The move, which threatens to fracture President Bola Tinubu’s re-election machinery, was disclosed by Yusuf Musa, promoter of the Tinubu Continuity Project and chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF.
Musa, an APC member and former board member of the News Agency of Nigeria, said that the governors are not planning to leave the APC, but believe they must build alternative political relationships in opposition camps if Wike is allowed to continue.
“The APC governors believe they should also be free to explore alternative political relationships if Wike could mobilise politicians from different parties against their interests while simultaneously supporting Tinubu at the presidential level,” he said.
He warned that if President Tinubu and the APC leadership fail to rein in Wike, the crisis could spiral.
“If President Tinubu and the APC leadership cannot rein in Wike, then what stops the governors whose political future is being threatened from building alternative political relationships outside the ruling party,” he queried.
Musa had earlier warned on TVC’s Breakfast Show on Monday: “If he doesn’t retrace his steps and allow us to campaign in peace, we are going to make this country very hot for him.”
When contacted, Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, declined comment.
Wike’s Rainbow Coalition: History of a Controversial Structure
Wike’s Rainbow Coalition is not new. It was first deployed in Rivers State as a cross-party mobilisation structure that pooled loyalists from PDP, APC and smaller parties to sustain Wike’s dominance after leaving office as governor.
The model, critics say, allows Wike, a PDP chieftain serving in an APC government, to operate as a political middleman — loyal to Tinubu at the presidential level while maintaining leverage over governorship and legislative contests at the state level.
After 2023, the coalition was scaled nationally as a campaign vehicle for Tinubu’s re-election, allegedly targeting nine states where Wike claims to have President Tinubu’s backing.
APC governors see it as a Trojan horse. They allege that Wike is using the coalition to support politicians who lost APC primaries and are now flying PDP tickets, effectively undermining APC candidates while claiming to support Tinubu.
The APC Governors Forum led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has rejected the coalition, insisting they would not support any arrangement that undermines the party.
Wike has fired back, accusing Governors Uzodimma, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun of opposing him for selfish reasons and fear of losing their elections.
The national leadership of the APC has maintained a studied silence, further emboldening both camps.
Consequences for Tinubu’s Campaign
Musa said the governors are confident Tinubu will win in 2027, but fear what comes after — that Tinubu, who will not contest after 2027, may have already ceded their states to Wike’s men as compensation.
“The governors are not entertaining any fears that Tinubu will not win his re-election. However, their fears are rooted in Wike’s claims that the President had already ceded nine states to his coalition in the governorship and legislative elections,” he said.
“Such claims may appear as mere political bragging, but no one should dismiss them as cheap talk because, in politics, you can’t take anything for granted, especially when it concerns elections.”
He added: “The governors are not unmindful of the fact that Tinubu will not be seeking another election after 2027 and that it would cost him practically nothing to cede some states, as Wike claimed.”
The promoter of the Tinubu Continuity Project warned that politicians backed by the Rainbow Coalition could win on opposition platforms and later defect to the APC, a pattern seen in Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Taraba, Enugu, Adamawa, Kano and Rivers.
“With the fluid nature of Nigerian politics, it would take these Wike-aligned coalition politicians nothing to defect to the APC after winning the 2027 governorship and legislative elections,” Musa said.
Analysts say if unresolved, the Wike-APC governors rift could fracture Tinubu’s campaign into two parallel structures — the official APC machinery controlled by governors and the Rainbow Coalition controlled by Wike — creating divided loyalty, funding wars and an opening for Atiku’s ADC to exploit aggrieved APC bases.
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