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False Flags: Nyesom Wike’s Rainbow Coalition network causing panic in APC states

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The Rainbow Coalition, a tactic drawn up by Nigeria’s minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is drumming up support for President Bola Tinubu’s reelection – but not everyone is happy. Who are Wike’s stalwarts?

Nigeria’s minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has assembled a special-purpose vehicle he calls the Rainbow Coalition to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 reelection bid.

As suggested by its name, the Rainbow Coalition is a hybrid assemblage of politicians from opposition political parties who are working for Tinubu’s reelection without defecting to or joining the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Like Wike himself, members are backing Tinubu against the presidential candidates of their respective parties.

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It is an expanded form of the G5 – comprising five opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors – which Wike deployed to support Tinubu during the 2023 poll.

The current machine was first activated last year in Rivers State to stop the reelection bid of Wike’s godson, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, following their bitter fallout.

With barely five months to the 2027 general election, the Rainbow Coalition has now moved beyond Rivers State, spreading to Ekiti, Kwara, Gombe, Benue, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Imo, Enugu and other states where opposition candidates aligned with him are working for Tinubu’s reelection.

The arrangement is unsettling APC governors, fearing it could unseat them or thwart their succession plans, as he welcomes aggrieved APC members into his PDP and positions them to challenge the APC governors seeking a second term or those looking to install their stooges.

It is also being viewed as part of Wike’s groundwork for his 2031 ambition.

Who are the key men in the special purpose machine?

Former governors

Ayodele Fayose

Former Ekiti State governor Ayodele Fayose is perhaps Wike’s closest ally, often taking up battles Wike does not want to fight from the front line.

He backed Wike to gain control of the PDP through the courts, while using Wike’s tactics in Rivers for Ekiti – insisting he’s in PDP but working for the APC. On his influence, his son, Boluwatife, secured the APC ticket for the state assembly and was also included in Tinubu’s campaign council.

Like Wike, who was rewarded with a ministerial appointment, Tinubu recently made Fayose chairman of Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

Bukola Saraki

Samuel Ortom

The Fubara nemesis

Kingsley Chinda

In Rivers State, the Rainbow Coalition is an amalgam of four political parties – PDP, APC, Labour Party (LP) and Action Alliance (AA) – specifically designed to block Fubara’s reelection. It successfully blocked Fubara and denied lawmakers loyal to him return tickets.

In that structure is Kingsley Chinda, a member of the House of Representatives and Wike’s ally, who has now emerged as the APC governorship candidate to replace Fubara in 2027.

Martins Amaewhule

The Kwara machine

Sulaiman Bolakale Kawu

Kawu is the PDP governorship candidate in Kwara and is banking on the Saraki-Wike alliance to challenge Salisu Yakubu-Danladi, the Speaker of the Kwara House of Assembly and APC candidate backed by incumbent governor Abdulrazaq.

The defection of aggrieved APC chieftains into the PDP is boosting the rainbow coalition and is built on anger similar to what stopped Fubara’s reelection bid in Rivers State.

Saliu Mustapha

Kolo Jiya

Rainbow Coalition at large

Philip Aduda

In the Federal Capital Territory, Aduda is Wike’s weapon to stop Ireti Kingibe from returning to the Senate.

To achieve that goal, Wike facilitated Aduda’s defection from the PDP to the APC to brighten his chances against Kingibe. Aduda represented the FCT senatorial district for 20 years before being displaced in 2023 by Kingibe, the Labour Party candidate backed by Peter Obi.

Michael Aondoakaa

Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii

Isa Pantami

The right-hand men

Samuel Anyanwu

The PDP national secretary is Wike’s weapon in Imo State against Governor Hope Uzodimma. For taking sides with Fubara during the Rivers crisis, Uzodimma earned the enmity of Wike, who threatened that he would “put fire” in his state.

Anyanwu, an arrowhead of the Rainbow Coalition, is being positioned by Wike to frustrate Uzodimma’s succession plan in Imo.

George Turnah

Jugundo Mohammed

Lere Olayinka

 

(The Africa Report)

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