Rainbow Coalition: Aggrieved governors explore alliance with Atiku to counter Wike

Yusuf Musa, a promoter of the Tinubu Continuity Project, says some aggrieved governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have started discussions on a possible alliance with Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), ahead of the 2027 elections.

Mr Musa, an APC member and chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), said the proposed alliance was solely to counter the Rainbow Coalition being promoted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, as a campaign structure for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.

He disclosed this in a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.

Although he did not name the aggrieved governors, Mr Musa said they were not considering leaving the APC but were exploring an alliance with Mr Atiku.

“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.

Mr Musa, a former board member of the News Agency of Nigeria, argued that the governors might proceed with the proposed alliance if President Tinubu and the APC leadership failed to intervene in the coalition dispute, which he said threatened their political future.

“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 said.

Mr Musa’s claim about the governors’ possible alliance with Atiku is similar to his remarks on TVC’s Breakfast Show on Monday, where he warned that Mr Wike’s refusal to back down on the coalition could trigger a serious crisis within the ruling party ahead of the elections.

“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,” he said on TVC’s Breakfast show.

Wike’s coalition

Mr Wike, a chieftain of the opposition PDP serving in the APC-led federal government, has been at odds with APC governors over his Rainbow Coalition, which he says is aimed at mobilising support for President Tinubu’s re-election.

The coalition, which initially emerged in Rivers State, where Mr Wike served as governor, has since expanded to other parts of the country.

However, APC governors have opposed the coalition, describing it as a political arrangement that could undermine the party and its candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.

The governors and other APC leaders have also alleged that Mr Wike is using the coalition to support politicians who lost the party’s primaries and are now contesting elections on the PDP platform.

The APC Governors Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, subsequently rejected the coalition, saying the governors would not support any political arrangement that could undermine the party and its candidates in the 2027 elections.

Mr Wike, on the other hand, has accused the governors of opposing the coalition because they fear losing their elections. He has also criticised their performance in their respective states.

The minister specifically named Governors Uzodimma, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State as opponents of the coalition, accusing them of acting for “selfish reasons”.

The PDP, Mr Wike’s party, has also weighed in on the dispute, backing his continued mobilisation for President Tinubu’s re-election despite the party’s decision to field Sandy Onor as its presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

The APC South-East caucus and other mobilisation groups within the party have, however, rejected the coalition and asked Mr Wike to apologise to the party’s governors over his comments about their political capacity and their opposition to his Rainbow Coalition.

Amid the disagreement, the APC national leadership has not publicly taken a position on whether it supports Mr Wike’s coalition, leaving observers to wonder how the party will manage the dispute between the minister and the governors.

Governors’ concerns

Mr Musa said the governors were confident that President Tinubu would win the 2027 presidential election but feared that the coalition could undermine their campaign structures if the president had indeed ceded nine states to Mr Wike’s group.

“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.

READ ALSO: Wike names three APC governors opposed to his Rainbow Coalition

“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 stated.

Mr Wike previously denied that Mr Tinubu ceded nine states to his coalition for the governorship, National Assembly and state assembly elections. He has, however, maintained that the president is aware of his efforts to establish the coalition and its objectives.

But, Mr Musa argued that the governors were also mindful that Mr Tinubu would not seek another term after 2027 and could therefore afford to cede states to the coalition.

“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,” he said.

He predicted that politicians aligned with the coalition could defect to the APC after winning governorship and legislative elections in their respective states.

Mr Musa referenced the defections of the governors of Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Taraba, Enugu, Adamawa, Kano and Rivers states from opposition parties to the APC as examples of such political realignments.

“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 in their respective states.

“We have witnessed a rash of such defections by opposition governors to the ruling APC in Nigeria’s recent political history, so the threats are real. Recall that the incumbent governors of Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Taraba, Enugu, Adamawa, Kano and Rivers had all defected from the opposition to the APC,” he said.

When contacted, Paul Ibe, Atiku’s spokesperson, declined comment.