The Progressive Governors Forum has rejected the Rainbow Coalition linked to Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, declaring that governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress will support only APC candidates in the 2027 elections.
The position was announced by Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Hope Uzodimma, after a meeting of APC governors in Abuja on Monday.
Uzodimma said the governors had unanimously agreed not to participate in, support or endorse any political alliance or arrangement that could weaken the APC, undermine President Bola Tinubu’s re election campaign or hurt candidates contesting under the party.
He said the governors’ campaign effort would remain focused on official APC candidates at every level of the 2027 elections.
The decision is widely seen as a direct response to the Rainbow Coalition being promoted by Wike, who has been mobilising politicians from different parties around support for Tinubu’s second term.
The coalition has generated growing tension because its supporters are not necessarily expected to abandon their individual political parties while backing Tinubu for president. This has raised concerns among APC governors that politicians could support the President at the national level while backing candidates from other parties in governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and state assembly contests.
Uzodimma said the APC governors would not support any candidate outside the party because the candidates contesting under the APC platform were being sponsored by the party.
He also warned against political arrangements that could create competing interests or divided loyalty within the APC.
The governors’ position comes as political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections intensify, with alliances and possible realignments already beginning to reshape Nigeria’s political landscape.
Wike, however, has pushed back against the governors’ position.
The FCT minister said his support for Tinubu’s re election was firm but insisted that he had never promised that the Peoples Democratic Party would withdraw from governorship, National Assembly or state assembly contests in 2027.
Wike also maintained that the Rainbow Coalition was not an APC arrangement.
According to him, the coalition is intended to bring together politicians from different political parties who support Tinubu’s re election because of their assessment of his performance.
Wike argued that supporting Tinubu for president does not mean political actors must abandon their parties or stop contesting elections under their respective platforms.
He also challenged the argument that voters would become confused if different parties supported Tinubu at the presidential level while contesting against the APC in other elections.
The former Rivers State governor pointed to the 2023 elections, when voters in some South East states supported APC candidates in National Assembly contests while giving their presidential votes to other parties.
He used the results to argue that Nigerian voters are capable of separating presidential, governorship and legislative choices.
The disagreement has also brought Wike into open confrontation with some APC governors, particularly Uzodimma and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
Wike has accused the governors of working against his political activities, while supporters of the APC governors have argued that the Rainbow Coalition could create parallel political structures and weaken the ruling party.
The dispute now places two different strategies for the 2027 election side by side.
The APC governors want a unified campaign structure built around the party’s candidates, while Wike is pushing a broader cross party movement focused primarily on securing Tinubu’s re election.
Uzodimma’s latest declaration makes the governors’ position clear: APC governors will campaign for APC candidates and will not endorse candidates from other parties as part of a political arrangement outside the party.
With the 2027 elections approaching, the clash over the Rainbow Coalition could become an increasingly important test of whether support for Tinubu can remain separate from the battle for political offices across the states.
The dispute also highlights a bigger question facing the ruling party: whether politicians from different parties can work together to secure Tinubu’s re election without creating rival campaign structures that could weaken APC candidates in other races.
