Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has said that the Rainbow Coalition backing President Bola Tinubu’s re-election is not to a threat to the All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting that the initiative is designed to mobilise support across party lines.
Wike made the clarification during a live media parley in Abuja on Tuesday, saying that the coalition was not meant to weaken the ruling party but to unite APC members and supporters of the President from other political parties ahead of the 2027 general election.
The minister, who coordinates the coalition’s activities in Rivers State and the FCT, said the arrangement was designed to accommodate each state’s political peculiarities while pursuing a common objective.
He explained that the coalition’s reference to PBT/APC reflected the collaboration between APC members and non-members supporting Tinubu’s second-term ambition.
“If you see that word, PBT/APC, it means those who are supporting the president who are not members of the party, together with the party, are working together to achieve that purpose,” he said.
Wike maintained that the APC remained the platform through which Tinubu would seek re-election, adding that the coalition gave supporters outside the party a way to contribute to the President’s electoral campaign.
“The major thing is Mr President. Whatever we do, anyone with an idea or anything to contribute is contributing to Mr President’s success. That is the whole thing,” he said.
Wike, a former Rivers State governor, dismissed concerns that the coalition could unsettle APC governors or trigger divisions within the ruling party.
“I don’t know what concerns there are. As far as I am concerned, there is no problem,” he said.
Hr cited the FCT as an example of how the broader arrangement could accommodate political interests.
He recalled appealing to political stakeholders in the territory to support Tinubu and APC candidates for the National Assembly while allowing supporters of other parties to make their choices at other levels.
He said political circumstances differ from state to state, so flexibility is necessary to build a broad-based coalition.
The minister said political leadership required the ability to persuade people with different affiliations to work towards a common objective.
Arguing that supporting a presidential candidate did not require supporters to abandon their political parties, insisting that cross-party cooperation was not new to Nigerian politics, Wike added that the current political environment had made such cooperation more visible and organised.
He said the coalition’s central objective was to secure Tinubu’s re-election, urging Nigerians to assess the President’s performance on its merits rather than allow party affiliations to dictate their positions.
