2027: No rainbow coalition in Imo – Uzodimma

Mr Uzodimma and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, have been in a face-off over the Rainbow Coalition Movement which the minister runs to mobilise support for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu.

Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has declared that there is no Rainbow Coalition Movement in the state.

The governor made the remarks on Tuesday during the flag-off of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement in Imo State and the distribution of campaign vehicles to the group in Owerri, the state capital.

The PBAT Door-to-Door Movement is a support group mobilising for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

The event was broadcast live on Channels TV which was monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Uzodimma, who handed the campaign vehicles to the group, told them that they should remain members of the APC and work solely for the victory of Mr Tinubu and all candidates of the party in the next year’s general election.

“The PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, listen to me,” he began.

“You’re members of the APC. If I see you work outside the APC, I’ll collect the vehicles from you,” the governor warned.

“You’re empowered to work for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC. There’s no rainbow coalition in Imo State.”

Mr Uzodimma boasted that he does not need the Rainbow Coalition Movement to win the election for Mr Tinubu in Imo, arguing that the president would win the state with “organic votes” in the 2027 election.

The governor maintained that the APC was the “only recognised” political party in the state and urged supporters to vote for the party’s candidates across all levels in the 2027 general elections.

Mr Uzodimma and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, have been in a face-off over the Rainbow Coalition Movement.

Mr Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, runs the Rainbow Coalition, a multi-party political arrangement, to support President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

The All Progressives Congress governors, under the aegis of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), have vehemently opposed the coalition, describing it as a political arrangement that could undermine the party and its candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.

The PGF is chaired by Mr Uzodimma, who has picked the APC’s ticket for Imo West District despite the fact that his tenure as governor will elapse in January 2028, six months after the next Senate would have been inaugurated in June 2027.

Mr Wike is officially a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but he works under the APC-led government.

The FCT minister’s position on the Rainbow Coalition Movement has been that the movement would work solely for the re-election of Mr Tinubu while his party, the PDP, would push to win other elective offices.

But Mr Uzodimma and other APC governors insist that such an arrangement would work against the election of other APC candidates.

On his part, Mr Wike claimed Mr Uzodimma, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and their Ogun State counterpart, Dapo Abiodun, were fighting the Rainbow Coalition Movement for “selfish reasons.”

Mr Wike stressed that the governors believe that the coalition would deprive them of the power to secure victory for their chosen APC senatorial and House of Representatives candidates.

The minister said some politicians, including incumbent federal lawmakers, secured PDP senatorial and House of Representatives tickets after the governors allegedly denied them APC tickets.

He specifically said the governors were jittery that the politicians who secured PDP tickets after losing APC tickets could work against their political interests if they win in the general election.

Mr Wike then accused Mr Uzodimma of opposing the coalition mainly because of his belief that it could jeopardise his ambition to become Senate President.

The FCT minister also declared that he would not support Mr Uzodimma’s ambition to become the country’s Senate president.