Rainbow Coalition: APC Chair Backs Governors Against Wike

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has declared that it will not support candidates from other political parties in the 2027 general election.

APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda made the declaration in an interview with Channels Television Sunday Politics, saying the position resonates with that of the party’s state governors.

Prof. Yilwada made the assertion amid the clash between APC governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike over the establishment of a group, Rainbow Coalition by the minister to rally support for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in next year’s election.

Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, serving in the APC administration has insisted that the coalition will only support President Tinubu’s return bid to office, and not candidates of the party at other levels of the contest.

The coalition is made up of the PDP and other political parties who have thrown their support behind the president’s reelection bid.

His assertion has angered the APC governors who said the ruling party and President Tinubu chances cold be endangered through such an arrangement.

On his part, the minister stated that he did not promise the president that he will support other APC candiates during the election, saying his major preoccupation is to ensure that Tinubu returns to office next year.

According to Prof, Yilwatda, the minister is free to support his choice of candidates during the election because he’s not a member of his party, insisting however that he stands with the APC governors’ position to support the party’s candidates at all level during the 2027 election.

“As a party, we will not support any candidate outside our party,” Yilwatda said.

He added: “The governors’ position is that they are promoting their own party in their respective states. They will support only APC candidates.’’

Meanwhile, President Tinubu, the man at the center of the controversy has seemingly remained silent over the issue, despite the belief by political analysts that he’s in the right position to settle the feud between the governors and Wike, in order not to jeopardise his and APC chances if the disagreement is allowed to persist.