Rainbow Coalition Under Fire: Why APC Governors Fear Wike’s Moves

_By Sam Agogo_

The Progressive Governors Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, recently issued a communique after a closed-door meeting in Abuja.

Their resolution was firm: APC governors will not support or endorse any political arrangement that could weaken the party or undermine President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. On the surface, this looked like a simple declaration of loyalty. In truth, it was a direct move to stifle the Rainbow Coalition being championed by Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, ahead of the 2027 elections.What makes this story compelling is not just the clash of personalities but the deeper contradictions it exposes in Nigerian politics. Wike’s coalition is disruptive, unconventional, and unsettling for APC governors who pride themselves on controlling the narrative.

Yet the outrage from Uzodinma and his colleagues reveals more about their fear of losing control than about any genuine principle.Wike’s political history explains why this coalition rattles the APC establishment. As Rivers State governor, he was ruthless in consolidating power. Smaller parties in his orbit were not just defeated; they were absorbed, dismantled, and starved of relevance until they existed only on paper. Later, within the PDP, Wike turned his fire inward, humiliating national chairmen, fighting the leadership to a standstill, and seizing full control of the party machinery in Rivers State.

His dominance was so complete that rivals were left with nothing but the party’s name.

Throughout this period, APC governors and leaders watched with quiet satisfaction.

Wike’s wars weakened the PDP, and a weakened PDP meant a stronger APC. Nobody raised alarms. Nobody issued communiques.

The silence was strategic. They were all in support because his battles served their interests.

It is also worth recalling that when Wike fought his successor in Rivers State, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, these same voices of outrage were silent.

The Progressive Governors Forum did not issue communiques. They did not denounce Wike’s tactics. They watched as Rivers politics descended into open confrontation between a former governor and his successor, yet chose not to intervene.

Their silence then, just as when Wike dismantled smaller parties and fought PDP leadership, shows the selective nature of their outrage. What is tolerated today because it serves immediate interests may become tomorrow’s destruction.

Sometimes, what you celebrate may return to haunt you in the future.Now, Wike has unveiled the Rainbow Coalition—a platform designed to bring together politicians across party lines who are satisfied with Tinubu’s performance and want to secure his second term.

Wike insists the coalition is not about undermining APC candidates but about mobilizing votes for the President, much like the G5 governors did in 2023. The coalition is bold, unconventional, and disruptive.

It is also deeply unsettling for APC governors who pride themselves on controlling the narrative.Uzodinma’s communique, couched in the language of party discipline, is less about principle and more about control.

The governors are uncomfortable with a coalition they did not design and cannot fully command.

Wike has been blunt in naming Uzodinma and Kwara’s AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as chief architects of the campaign against him. His counter-argument is sharp: if APC could win Senate seats in Imo, Ebonyi, Abia, and Enugu in 2023 despite poor presidential performance in those states, was that not itself a form of electoral improvisation?

The hypocrisy is evident. Nigerian political elites embrace disruption when it serves them, but denounce it when it threatens their own arrangements. Politics in Nigeria has long been plagued by selective outrage. Principles are applied when convenient and discarded when inconvenient.

Disruption is celebrated when it weakens the opposition, but condemned when it threatens internal hierarchies.Wike’s coalition forces the APC governors to confront their own contradictions. If they tolerated his methods when they weakened the PDP, why can they not tolerate them now when they aim to strengthen Tinubu’s re-election bid? The answer lies in control. The governors are less concerned about Tinubu’s victory than about their own relevance in shaping it.

For Uzodinma and the PGF, the dilemma is clear. They cannot openly oppose a coalition that claims to support Tinubu. To do so would appear disloyal to the President.

Yet they cannot embrace a coalition they do not control. Their solution has been selective outrage: denouncing Wike’s coalition as dangerous while ignoring the fact that similar improvisations benefited APC in the past.The clash between Uzodinma’s Forum and Wike’s coalition is not just about 2027. It is about the future of Nigerian political organization. If Wike succeeds, he will demonstrate that coalitions can be built outside rigid party structures, that loyalty to a candidate can transcend loyalty to a party.

This could reshape Nigerian politics, creating new possibilities for cross-party alliances and unconventional campaigns. It could also weaken the grip of governors and party leaders over electoral machinery.For the APC, the risk is internal fragmentation.

For Wike, the risk is overreach. For Nigerians, the outcome will reveal whether politics can evolve beyond selective outrage and convenience. Uzodinma’s communique is not about principle. It is about convenience. It is about maintaining control over a narrative that Wike threatens to rewrite.But Nigerians are watching. They remember who cheered Wike on when his ambitions weakened the PDP. They see who now denounces him when his ambitions no longer serve their calculations.

In the end, a resolve rooted in convenience will not survive contact with Wike’s relentless style. The Rainbow Coalition may or may not succeed, but it has already exposed the double standards of Nigeria’s political elite. And that, perhaps, is its greatest achievement.

*For comments, reflections and further conversation, email samuelagogo4one@yahoo.com or call +2348055847364.*