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The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the growing disagreement between Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike and APC governors over the Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
Ima Niboro, spokesman for the APC PCC, described the dispute as an internal disagreement between political allies who share the same objective of supporting Tinubu but differ over how the coalition should operate.
He said the disagreement would be resolved internally.
The disagreement escalated after APC governors, led by Progressive Governors Forum chairman and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, said they would not support any alliance or political arrangement capable of weakening the APC, affecting its candidates or undermining Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Wike, however, has maintained that his Rainbow Coalition is intended to support Tinubu’s 2027 re-election while allowing politicians across different parties to retain their political identities and field candidates for other positions.
He criticised the APC governors as “politically lazy” and said supporting the President was separate from supporting candidates of a particular party.
Responding to the dispute, Niboro said both sides should stop the public exchanges and concentrate on political mobilisation at the grassroots.
“I consider this a quarrel among political siblings. They are all working in the same direction, but there are differences in the details.
“Both camps agree that President Tinubu must return in 2027.”
Niboro said the disagreement had already begun to affect political relationships at state and local government levels, making presidential intervention relevant to managing the competing interests.
“The ultimate beneficiary of this entire process is the President. The quarrel we are talking about is a quarrel that is trickling down to states and local government areas.
“But both camps agreed on re-electing the President. I do not see it as a direct challenge to the President himself, beyond the fact that he is a leader and it’s in his interest to intervene for peace.”
APC chieftain Joe Igbokwe also called for direct engagement between Wike and the APC governors, arguing that the minister should explain the coalition to the governors rather than allow the disagreement to play out through public exchanges.
“Wike is a critical stakeholder. You can ignore him to your own peril. He has a command.
“He has followers,” Igbokwe said, while urging Wike to “sit down with the governors and explain” his intentions.
Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, took a different position, urging Tinubu to be cautious about calls from some APC governors concerning Wike.
He argued that the disagreement should have been handled through the party’s internal channels and maintained that Wike’s political support could provide additional votes for the President in 2027.
“The governors should concentrate on strengthening their relationship with the electorate rather than asking Mr President to abandon a political alliance that could broaden the APC’s electoral reach,” Okechukwu said.
The dispute follows growing concern within APC circles over the Rainbow Coalition’s activities in states including Rivers, Kwara, Gombe and Cross River, where coalition-backed political arrangements have raised questions about their relationship with existing APC structures.
