The political battle between the governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, over the minister’s sponsorship of the Rainbow Coalition has intensified in Kwara, Ogun, Benue, Kebbi, Ebonyi and other states, as the minister’s loyalists deepened their plots to frustrate the re-election bids of some of the governors and the efforts of others to install successors, THISDAY has learnt.
This is just as the Minister of Works, Mr. Dave Umahi has declared that there is no Rainbow Coalition in Ebonyi State.
The Rainbow Coalition is a multi-political party platform promoted by Wike to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027, while backing non-APC candidates for governorship, National Assembly and States House of Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, rising from a three-day retreat in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, the leaders of the APC on Saturday dismissed the threat posed by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 general election, saying the main opposition parties would merely be participating in the polls rather than mounting a serious contest against the ruling party.
Wike’s decision to use the coalition to field Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for governorship and other elective positions did not go down well with the APC governors, who are battle-ready to fight the minister’s loyalists for political supremacy in their states.
THISDAY gathered that in Ogun State, the Rainbow Coalition-backed governorship candidate of the PDP, Mr. Ladi Adebutu is getting stronger with huge financial resources at his disposal to battle the governorship candidate of the APC, Senator Solomon Adeola.
Adeola, who is equally wealthy, is backed by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
However, the dispute over Adeola’s state of origin seems to be posing a threat to his chances.
In Kebbi State, a former governor of the state and senator representing Kebbi Central, Adamu Aliero, is working with Rainbow Coalition to unseat Governor Nasir Idris, who is seeking a second term.
Governor Idris is a protégé of the immediate past governor of the state and Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.
In Imo State, it is a tripartite battle between Governor Hope Uzodimma, former Governor Rochas Okorocha, and the governorship candidate of the PDP, Senator Sam Anyanwu, who is a member of Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.
Uzodimma, who is seeking to install a successor on the platform of the APC, is the party’s senatorial candidate for the 2027 elections.
Senator Okorocha, who is also of the APC, had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the publication of Governor Uzodimma’s name as the candidate of the APC for the Imo West Senatorial District election scheduled for 2027.
In Kwara State, the PDP governorship candidate, Bolakale Kawu, is challenging Governor AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman’s anointed candidate in APC, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu.
The senator representing Kwara Central on the platform of the APC, Saliu Mustapha, also emerged as the PDP candidate after Governor AbdulRazaq upstaged him and emerged as the APC senatorial candidate for the zone.
Mustapha is backed by a former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
Rainbow Coalition is also believed to be backing non-APC candidates in Enugu, Nasarawa, Gombe and other states.
In Ebonyi State, Wike’s loyalists are also challenging the re-election of Governor Francis Nwifuru, a protégé of former Governor Dave Umahi, who is the Minister of Works.
However, Umahi has declared that there is no Rainbow Coalition in the state.
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