"Join Us or Stay Out": APC Chapters Turn on Wike's Rainbow Coalition as 2027 Loyalty Test Deepens.

Party leaders in at least a dozen states demand the FCT minister pick a side, exposing a power struggle inside Tinubu's re-election camp.

ABUJA – Nyesom Wike cannot be in two camps at once, according to a growing number of leaders in President Bola Tinubu's own party. Several state chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have rejected the Rainbow Coalition being built by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. They are telling him to formally join the ruling party or stop meddling in its affairs.

The revolt follows a fresh clash between Wike and the party's governors over who will control the political machinery for Tinubu's 2027 re-election bid. It exposes a rift in the president's camp over how his support base should be organised and, more importantly, who should command it.

The ultimatum

The latest flashpoint came from Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal. Speaking on Channels Television's Inside Sources on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, he said the governors' position had not changed.

"Our message is very, very clear: Be on one side. You can't be on two sides," Lawal said. "It's either he's in APC or he's out. It's simple."

Asked directly whether the governors wanted Wike to join the APC, he answered: "Exactly. What's the essence?" Lawal said he would raise the matter with the president when he returns.

The confrontation is awkward because Wike is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member serving in an APC-led federal government. Tinubu appointed him FCT minister after the 2023 election, even though Wike had remained a prominent PDP figure and had contested the presidency under the opposition party.

A party divided

Lawal's demand has drawn support across the country, though not in one voice.

The hardliners. In Imo State, APC Publicity Secretary Jones Onwuasoanya accused Wike of "playing hide and seek with his loyalty" and said that "there is nothing like a Rainbow Coalition" in the state. In Ondo, party secretary Alex Kalejaiye said support for the ruling party "must be total," covering the president, three senators, nine House of Representatives members and 26 House of Assembly candidates. "That is not negotiable," he said.

Kwara APC chairman Sunday Fagbemi called the coalition strategy "a grand deception and a confusing strategy." He questioned whether voters could be told to back one party for president and another for the Senate. "If you are an APC member, the election is five out of five, not even three out of five," he said.

In Plateau, chairman Rufus Bature said the coalition was "condemned totally for every state" at a party retreat in Maiduguri attended by the national chairman. "He cannot be APC in the morning and PDP in the night," he said. He also suggested Wike may be building a structure for the 2031 or 2035 elections, while conceding that "the coalition might be a threat, but we are not taking it for granted."

The open-door camp. Jigawa took a warmer line. Publicity Secretary Bashir Kundu welcomed Wike's support for the president and said he would be received if he joined. He noted that the APC itself was born of a merger of parties. In Nasarawa, Augustine Ogaba said the party "quite appreciate[s]" Wike's backing but would be "happier if he joins our party."

The straddlers. Benue's APC is split. One faction's organising secretary, James Orgunga, praised Wike but said he should join the party. A rival faction loyal to Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, through publicity secretary Daniel Ihomun, argued the opposite: "He should not join APC; he should remain where he is because he has helped to destroy PDP for us." Ihomun claimed a similar arrangement already exists in the state as the "Benue Strategic Alliance for Tinubu," drawing in APC, PDP and Labour Party members.

The fence-sitters. Osun and Delta said the question belongs to the national leadership. Bayelsa's chairman declined to comment, and Sokoto said it has no member in the coalition. Niger's spokesman said the party has "no business with Wike" but respects freedom of association.

Rivers: the home front

In Rivers State, where Wike was governor and remains a dominant force, the dispute carries extra weight. The APC faction led by Emeka Beke backed the Progressive Governors Forum's stance. Its spokesman, Darlington Nwauju, warned that Wike's activities could help revive the PDP. "You cannot stand [and] use your association with the APC to rebuild the PDP," he said.

In Anambra, APC chairman Senator Emmanuel Anosike went further, calling the coalition "an insult to the integrity and sensibility of the APC and its governors." He insisted that Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma, who leads the APC Governors Forum, controls party structures nationwide and can deliver Tinubu again in 2027.

Wike's defence

Wike has rejected the charge that the coalition is an APC structure or a threat to the party. Through his aide Lere Olayinka, he said the coalition backs only Tinubu's presidential re-election and does not stop other parties from fielding governorship and legislative candidates.

He points to precedent. Before the 2023 election, he and other members of the G5 group supported Tinubu without joining the APC. He also argues that "politics is local" and that political actors should decide their alliances at the state level. In a later public appearance, he repeated that his immediate concern is Tinubu's re-election, not destabilising the APC.

Works Minister David Umahi, a former Ebonyi governor who defected from the PDP, said there is "no rainbow coalition in Ebonyi State." He also cautioned against hate speech during campaigns.

Some PDP voices, meanwhile, claim Wike for themselves. Abraham Amah, the party's deputy governorship candidate in Abia, said Wike "remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, and he is the national leader of the party." He described the APC's invitation as political courting.

What is at stake?

The dispute goes beyond party labels. The presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections are held on the same day, so any split in loyalties could scramble the APC's calculations at every level of the ballot. For APC governors and state chairmen, letting an outsider organise support for the president also means ceding control of the political structures that decide who gets what after the election.

With the national leadership yet to issue a formal position, and Lawal promising to take the matter to Tinubu himself, the president may soon have to decide between a useful ally and a united party.