…Defections Hit 10 States as APC Governors Cry Foul Ahead of 2027
A growing number of aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) members and former party leaders have begun aligning with the Rainbow Coalition led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, in a development that is sharpening internal tensions within the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
CDA News Nigeria reports that Sunday PUNCH gathered that many APC figures who have either left the party or expressed deep dissatisfaction with its internal processes have endorsed Wike’s cross-party platform.
CDA News Nigeria gathered that the Progressive Governors Forum, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, had on Monday described the coalition as a threat to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election. The development has since generated controversy, as some APC members supported the governors while others backed Wike.
A national leader of the APC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the Rainbow Coalition as an alternative group for aggrieved APC leaders and an extension of President Tinubu’s platform to actualise his re-election. He said many APC leaders are supporting Wike because of the way the governors handled the party’s primaries. “Wike has the support of the President on his Rainbow Coalition. It is an alternative platform for aggrieved APC members who may want to join the ADC. So, instead of joining the ADC, they move to the PDP where they will be given a ticket or recognition with assurance from them that they will work for Tinubu,” he said.
Findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that aggrieved APC leaders in no fewer than 10 states have left the party to join the Wike-led PDP. From Kwara to Gombe, Cross River, Osun, Katsina, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ogun, Jigawa, and Ondo, prominent APC figures who lost out in the party’s nomination processes or fell out with their state leaderships have defected to the PDP.
In Kwara, aggrieved APC leaders, including Dr Tajudeen Olesin, have declared support for Wike’s Rainbow Coalition. Senator Saliu Mustapha, representing Kwara Central, has also left the APC for the PDP, along with two members of the state House of Assembly, Saba Gideon and Olushola Odetundun. In Osun, Senator Olubuyi Fadeyi left the APC after losing his return ticket and picked the PDP ticket with Wike’s support. In Katsina, two members of the House of Representatives, Shehu Tafoki and Shehu Dalhatu, dumped the APC for the PDP.
Other notable APC chieftains who have left the party to join the PDP include former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, alongside former Gombe South APC senator, Anthony Yaro.
Olesin claimed that personal ambitions, especially by Uzodinma and Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, were responsible for the face-off. He alleged that Uzodinma was planning to become Senate President in 2027, while Wike was supporting the return of the current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
But the Special Adviser on Party Affairs to the Kwara governor, Mashood Alaka, alleged that Wike’s Rainbow Coalition was aimed at building a political structure that could position him for the 2031 presidential race. He argued that Wike should either remain in the PDP and operate as a member of the opposition party or formally join the APC if he intended to work within its political structure.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka, rejected the claim that Wike was positioning himself to run for president in 2031, stating that Alaka’s position was based on a misunderstanding of the politics of power rotation between the northern and southern parts of the country.
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