Wike backing Tinubu, not the APC, Adams Oshiomhole says as tensions over the Rainbow Coalition and 2027 election strategy continue
Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North, said in Abuja on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, that Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike is backing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid rather than the All Progressives Congress, as political disagreements over campaign strategy deepen ahead of Nigeria’s next general election.
Also read: Okonkwo Accuses Tinubu of Borrowing Nigeria Into ‘Slavery’
Oshiomhole made the clarification during an interview with TVC, arguing that Wike’s support for Tinubu should be separated from the minister’s relationship with the APC.
“Wike is supporting President Tinubu and not the APC,” Oshiomhole said. “They are all committed to supporting the re-election of President Tinubu.”
The senator’s comments come amid an increasingly public disagreement between Wike and APC governors over the proposed Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party political arrangement being promoted by the FCT minister ahead of the 2027 elections.
The disagreement intensified in September after the Progressive Governors Forum, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, said APC governors would not participate in or support a political arrangement that could weaken the party or adversely affect its candidates.
Uzodimma said the governors’ campaign commitment would remain focused on APC candidates at all levels.
The position reflected the party’s concern that a cross-party coalition could create divided loyalties during an election in which presidential, governorship and legislative contests will run alongside one another.
Wike has drawn a different distinction.
The former Rivers State governor has repeatedly said his political commitment is specifically to Tinubu’s presidential re-election campaign and does not prevent the Peoples Democratic Party or other political parties from presenting candidates for governorship and legislative elections.
“What I said and stand for is that I will mobilise support for the re-election of the President,” Wike said. “I never promised anyone that PDP will not field candidates to contest governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections.”
Wike has also insisted that the Rainbow Coalition is not an APC structure and that he did not approach the APC Governors Forum to negotiate an alliance.
“There’s no day I went to the Governors’ Forum to align between both coalitions,” he said during an ARISE News interview.
The minister’s position has placed him in direct political disagreement with some APC governors, particularly over whether support for Tinubu should automatically extend to APC candidates contesting other positions.
Wike has argued that Nigerian elections can produce different voting patterns across presidential, legislative and state contests.
His position is that politicians can support a presidential candidate while retaining the right to support candidates from their own parties in other races.
The APC Governors Forum, however, has maintained that its members will support the party’s candidates and reject arrangements that could weaken the APC.
Governor Uzodimma said the governors had resolved not to support candidates outside the party.
The dispute is significant because Wike remains a member of the PDP while serving as a minister in Tinubu’s APC-led Federal Government.
His political relationship with Tinubu dates to the 2023 election period, when Wike and other members of the PDP’s G5 group of governors opposed the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and took positions that helped shape the contest.
Since joining the federal cabinet, Wike has continued to say that his support for Tinubu does not amount to membership of the APC.
“I said I will support the President from day one. I never told Mr President I will join APC,” Wike said in response to questions about his political affiliation. Politics Nigeria
Oshiomhole’s latest intervention therefore presents the dispute as a difference over party affiliation and political organisation rather than a disagreement over Tinubu’s presidential candidacy.
“I am comfortable with the fact that the two sides are working for the same goal, supporting the President,” Oshiomhole said.
That interpretation does not remove the underlying disagreement.
APC governors have raised concerns about supporting a presidential campaign while potentially facing candidates backed by Wike and his allies in governorship and legislative contests.
An APC-affiliated grassroots group has similarly argued that the Rainbow Coalition should not be confused with the ruling party’s formal structure.
The organisation said the coalition “is not the APC” and does not speak for APC governors, candidates or members.
Wike, meanwhile, has maintained that his coalition is designed to mobilise support for Tinubu across party lines.
He has also argued that politicians should concentrate on securing presidential support rather than using Tinubu’s re-election campaign to settle their own state-level political disputes.
The tensions have been sufficiently prominent for reports to emerge that Tinubu could intervene to ease the disagreement.
The PUNCH reported in September that the President was expected to engage the parties over the dispute, although such reports did not establish that a formal settlement had been reached.
For now, the positions remain distinct. Wike says his priority is Tinubu’s presidential bid and that support for the President does not require support for every APC candidate.
The APC governors say their electoral responsibility includes defending the party’s candidates and structures while supporting Tinubu.
O politically important as parties and political figures negotiate how presidential supportshiomhole’s comments add another layer to that debate, drawing a line between personal support for Tinubu and membership of the APC.
With the 2027 elections approaching, the distinction could remain politically important as parties and political figures negotiate how presidential support will coexist with competition for governorship, National Assembly and state assembly seats.
Also read: Okonkwo Accuses Tinubu of Borrowing Nigeria Into ‘Slavery’
The immediate issue is therefore less about whether Wike has declared support for Tinubu, which he has repeatedly done, and more about what that support means for the wider political organisations and candidates competing alongside the presidential race.
