Wike’s ‘Rainbow Coalition’, threat to democracy

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Turaki, has urged occasion members to disregard the Rainbow Coalition being promoted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to marketing campaign for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.

The faction mentioned opposition events ought to supply Nigerians an alternate to the incumbent authorities moderately than reward it.

It described the coalition as a serious threat to electoral democracy, warning that it may push Nigeria in direction of an electoral monarchy.

The faction’s spokesperson, Ini Ememobong, said this in an announcement on Tuesday.

“The paramount obligation of the opposition is to present an alternate to the incumbent, not to therapeutic massage their ego. If opposition events are to ally, they’ll achieve this amongst themselves, not with the governing occasion.

“This political anomaly, styled and championed as a ‘rainbow coalition,’ is the greatest threat to electoral democracy and the fastest way of railroading the country into an electoral monarchy,” he mentioned.

Mr Ememobong additionally criticised Mr Wike for urging PDP members to collapse their political buildings in assist of Mr Tinubu’s re-election, describing the transfer as shameful.

“The information attributed to Minister Nyesom Wike that PDP candidates ought to collapse their buildings and assist the re-election of President Bola Tinubu is nothing new, aside from the truth that his message just isn’t directed at actual PDP members. The message is supposed for individuals who, like him, fake to be within the opposition however work for the governing occasion.

“The true and principled members of the Peoples Democratic Party are not part of the shameless, self-serving support for the APC-led federal government and its destructive policies,” he added.

The faction’s spokesperson urged occasion members to stay loyal to the PDP because the group awaits a Court of Appeal judgment in its bid to take over the occasion’s management.

“We urge all true and faithful members of the Peoples Democratic Party to remain steadfast as we await the judiciary’s decision, hopeful that it will return our party to its true owners. Our case at the Court of Appeal has been heard, and we await judgement. We know that the entire judiciary is conscious that justice delayed is justice denied,” he mentioned.

Mr Ememobong additionally cautioned Nigerians in opposition to these pretending to be occasion members.

“Nigerians should be wary of elite accommodation and state capture masquerading as broad-based political collaboration. The election next year provides a great opportunity to vote out these insensitive and irresponsible political actors,” he added.

Wike’s coalition

Mr Wike, a chieftain of the opposition PDP serving within the APC-led federal authorities, has been at odds with APC governors over his Rainbow Coalition, which he says is aimed toward mobilising assist for President Tinubu’s re-election.

The coalition, which initially emerged in Rivers State, the place Mr Wike served as governor from 2015 to 2023, has since expanded to different elements of the nation.

The Abdulrahman Mohammed-led PDP loyal to the FCT Minister had supported his continued mobilisation for President Tinubu’s re-election regardless of the occasion’s choice to subject Sandy Onor as its presidential candidate within the 16 January 2027 election

But the APC governors opposed the coalition, describing it as a political association that would undermine the occasion and its candidates forward of the 2027 elections.

The governors and different APC leaders additionally alleged that Mr Wike was utilizing the coalition to assist politicians who misplaced the ruling occasion’s primaries and at the moment are contesting elections on the PDP platform.

The APC Governors Forum, chaired by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, mentioned it could not assist any political association that would undermine the occasion and its candidates within the 2027 elections.

Mr Wike, then again, accused the governors of opposing the coalition as a result of they feared dropping their elections. He additionally criticised their efficiency of their respective states.

The FCT minister particularly named Governors Uzodimma, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State as opponents of the coalition, accusing them of performing for “selfish reasons”.

The APC South-East caucus and different mobilisation teams inside the occasion additionally rejected the coalition. They requested Mr Wike to apologise to the occasion’s governors for his feedback about their political capability and their opposition to his Rainbow Coalition.