Rainbow Coalition: APC group flays NWC’s silence, warns against dividing govs

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: The All Progressives Congress APC Grassroots Organisation has flayed the party’s National Working Committee NWC for its silence in the face of moves it said are polarising APC governors, warning that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, must not be allowed to balkanize the party.

In a statement signed by the chairman of the APC Grassroots Organisation, Mukhtar Tanimu Rabiu, the group noted that although the APC governors refused to be polarised, the NWC, led by the National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has curiously kept mute whilst a member of an opposition party has intensified his quest to destroy a major organ of the APC, the Progressive Governors Forum PGF.

The organisation stated that the minister had polarised the PDP governors, bought over the party leadership and attacked major PDP organs leading to the destruction of the party, adding that “just as he did with the PDP in the past, using lackeys from Kano and Edo states, the same script is being played all over again; this time in the APC.”

The group also cautioned the minister against using his support for the President’s 2027 re-election bid to undermine existing structures and interests of the ruling party, warning that he might unwittingly derail the President’s re-election with the introduction of his Rainbow Coalition into the campaign mix.

Disputing claims that the minister’s PDP G-5 alliance constituted an indispensable electoral machine for President Bola Tinubu in 2023, the organisation cited the presidential results in the five states associated with the alliance, recalling that three members of the then G-5, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Samuel Ortom of Benue, lost their senatorial elections in 2023. It stated that the only one among the now defunct G-5 who won elections democratically in the 2023 race was the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, who broke ranks with Wike.

The group added that Ikpeazu, Ortom and Ugwuanyi were reputed to have lost their polling units, wards and local governments, just as Wike allegedly lost his local government and Rivers State before the presentation of “the controversial and highly disputed Rivers State presidential election result.” It queried, “Where then, is his self acclaimed street credibility besides dishing insults and making outrageous and wild claims?”

The organisation insisted that an individual or support group must not be allowed to function as a parallel party structure simply because they support the President. While welcoming Wike’s support for Tinubu, it warned that his controversial “Rainbow Coalition” should not be treated as an alternative to the APC’s elected governors, candidates and formal structures.

According to the group, Wike’s admission that the coalition is not an APC structure signals a potential conflict of interest, particularly if it creates competing political interests in states where APC governors are expected to campaign for both Tinubu and other APC candidates.

“Support President Tinubu. But do not expect APC governors to surrender their governors, senators, House members, Assembly candidates or party structures to Wike’s faction of the PDP,” the statement read.

The organisation noted that its position comes amid growing disagreements between Wike and APC governors over the coalition, with the APC Governors’ Forum recently saying their members would not support any political arrangement capable of weakening the APC or adversely affecting its candidates.

The group further pointed to the APC’s control of 31 of 36 states, arguing that the party already has an extensive network of governors and state structures around which Tinubu’s campaign can be organised.

It also cited how Wike pleaded with the APC leadership to field his preferred candidate, Kingsley Chinda, as APC’s 2027 governorship candidate in Rivers State, asking, “Why did Wike not field Chinda as PDP candidate if truly he had any faith in his so-called Rainbow Coalition?”

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