Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed concerns that the Rainbow Coalition supporting President Bola Tinubu’s re-election could undermine the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the initiative is aimed at mobilising support across party lines.
Wike spoke during a media parley in Abuja on Tuesday, arguing that Tinubu’s bid for a second term should not be restricted to members of the ruling party.
The minister, who coordinates the coalition’s activities in Rivers State and the FCT, said the arrangement was designed to bring together APC members and supporters of the president in other political parties.
He explained that the coalition’s reference to PBT/APC reflected the collaboration between party members and those outside the APC who shared the objective of securing Tinubu’s re-election.
“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,” Wike said.
He cited Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, and Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, as examples of political figures associated with state-level coordination, alongside himself.
Wike maintained that the coalition was not intended to replace the APC as the platform for Tinubu’s re-election but to expand the president’s support base beyond the party’s membership.
“The major thing is Mr President. Whatever we are going to do, whoever has any idea or anything to contribute is to the success of Mr President. That is the whole thing,” he said.
The minister also dismissed suggestions that the coalition had unsettled APC governors or could trigger defections from the ruling party, insisting that he was unaware of any problems arising from the arrangement.
“I don’t know what concerns there are. As far as I am concerned, there is no problem,” he said.
Using the FCT as an example, Wike recalled urging political stakeholders to support Tinubu and APC candidates for the National Assembly while allowing supporters of other parties to make their choices at other levels of the elections.
He said the approach was informed by differences in political circumstances across states, arguing that local interests could be accommodated without losing sight of the broader objective of supporting the president.
The former Rivers State governor described political mobilisation as an exercise in persuasion, saying leaders must be able to bring people with different affiliations together around a common goal.
He further argued that cooperation across party lines was not new in Nigerian politics, noting that political actors had previously supported presidential candidates outside their parties while maintaining separate political interests at the state level.
Wike said the current arrangement had made such cooperation more visible and organised, reiterating that the coalition’s central objective was to secure Tinubu’s re-election based on what he described as the president’s achievements.
He urged Nigerians to assess the president’s performance on its merits rather than allow party affiliations to determine their assessment of his administration.