A CHIEFTAIN of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Chief Samson Chukwu Nnamani, has backed the Nyesom Wike-led Rainbow Coalition in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid, describing it as a legitimate cross-party political platform rather than an attempt to undermine the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nnamani, in a statement personally signed by him and made available to newsmen, also faulted the opposition to the coalition by the APC Governors Forum, arguing that supporting Tinubu for president does not legally or politically require members of other parties to abandon their identities, structures or candidates in other elections.
The APC governors have said they would not support any arrangement capable of weakening the party or adversely affecting its candidates.
News Point Nigeria reports that the controversy centres on the Rainbow Coalition promoted by Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and a PDP figure, as a multi-party platform to mobilise support for Tinubu while allowing participating politicians to retain their party affiliations and contest governorship and legislative elections under their respective parties.
Wike has similarly said the coalition is focused on Tinubu’s presidential re-election and has nothing to do with the APC.
Nnamani said the arrangement was consistent with Nigeria’s multiparty democracy, stressing that a politician could support a presidential candidate from another party while retaining membership of his or her own party and supporting candidates of that party in other contests.
He therefore argued that the coalition should be seen principally as a presidential mobilisation platform, rather than a merger, defection arrangement or attempt to turn the PDP into an appendage of the APC.
According to him, Wike had been clear that his objective was to mobilise support for Tinubu in the presidential election while allowing the PDP and other participating parties to field candidates for governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections.
Nnamani said there was nothing unusual about the arrangement, recalling that members of the G5 governors, led by Wike, supported Tinubu in 2023 while remaining members of the PDP and participating in other contests under the party’s platform.
The Enugu PDP chieftain said the 2023 experience demonstrated that Nigerian voters and politicians could make different choices at different levels of an election without necessarily treating the ballot as a single-ticket exercise.
He consequently questioned the basis of the APC governors’ opposition to the Rainbow Coalition, saying the ruling party could legitimately mobilise its members and candidates but should not dictate how politicians outside the APC exercise their political choices.
Nnamani maintained that Wike had never presented the Rainbow Coalition as an APC structure or a mechanism for taking over or weakening the ruling party. Rather, he said, the former Rivers State governor had consistently described it as a platform bringing together politicians and supporters from different parties who support Tinubu’s re-election.
He cited Wike’s description of the initiative as “a platform for other political parties that are pleased with the good works of Tinubu and are supporting his re-election,” saying the statement clearly established the purpose of the coalition.
Nnamani said: “The Rainbow Coalition is not an APC project, neither is it a platform designed to destroy or weaken the APC. It is a broad-based political mobilisation platform for Nigerians and politicians from different political parties who have decided to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the presidency in 2027.
“Those who belong to the coalition do not, by that decision, cease to be members of their political parties. They retain their identities, structures and political interests, particularly at the state and legislative levels.”
He further argued that there was no contradiction in a PDP member supporting Tinubu for president while backing a PDP candidate for governor, senator or member of the House of Representatives.
“Presidential politics is not the same thing as every other contest on the ballot. A person can support Tinubu for president and still support the candidate of his or her party for governor or the National Assembly. That is democracy,” he said.
Nnamani maintained that the 2023 elections had already demonstrated the possibility of such political calculations, arguing that cross-party support at different levels was not peculiar to the present administration.