Rainbow Ccalition: Nnamani criticizes APC governor’s forum and supports Wike

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart in Enugu State, Chief Samson Chukwu Nnamani, has urged the Progressive Governor’s Forum under the leadership of Governor Hope Uzodinma not to reduce any support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to just card-carrying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but see it as a national political project that cuts across party lines and affiliations.

Chief Nnamani, who supported the Rainbow Coalition put together by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, said restricting President Tinubu’s support to only APC members violates the constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of association under sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) and should not be encouraged.

Chief Nnamani reminded APC governors not to overlook the distinction between support for a presidential candidate and partisan contests for other elective positions, stressing that the cross-party political movement should not be misconstrued as an attempt to weaken the APC.

In a strongly worded statement, Chief Nnamani said unequivocally that the opposition of the APC Governors Forum against the Wike coalition seeking to galvanize support for the re-election of President Tinubu cannot be treated as the sole responsibility of the APC or designed to force members of other political parties to abandon their identities, structures or candidates in other elections.

Nnamani stressed that Wike is constitutionally entitled to make his choices and mobilize support for President Tinubu regardless of his political affiliations, stressing that even within the APC, not all card-carrying members have the constitutional obligation to support their party’s candidates.

He emphasized that Nigeria’s multiparty democracy allows for multiple voter options and beliefs, pointing out that a politician could support a presidential candidate of another party while maintaining membership of his or her own party and contesting other elective positions under that party.

He argued that the Rainbow Coalition should therefore be seen primarily as a presidential mobilization platform, rather than a merger, a defection deal, or an attempt to turn the PDP into an appendage of the APC.

He opined that the FCT minister has clearly taken a stand to mobilize support for Tinubu in the presidential election, while allowing the PDP and other participating political parties to field candidates for the governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly elections in a clear and unambiguous manner, adding that a similar scenario occurred during the 2023 presidential election.

He recalled that members of the G5 group of governors, led by Wike, supported Tinubu’s presidential candidacy in 2023 despite remaining PDP members and participating in other electoral contests on the party’s platform.

He said such developments are clear indications that Nigerians are becoming more politically enlightened and politically aware.

Speaking in defense of the former Rivers State governor, Chief Nnamani said Wike never presented the Rainbow Coalition as an APC structure or a mechanism to take control of the ruling party, but as a coalition made up of politicians and supporters of different parties happy with Tinubu’s candidacy and worthy of their support in the 2027 presidential elections.

He cited Wike’s description of the initiative as “a platform for other political parties who are satisfied with Tinubu’s good works and are supporting his re-election”, and criticized the APC governors’ position that the coalition will weaken the momentum of the president or the party.

He said: “The Rainbow Coalition is not a project of the APC, nor is it a platform designed to destroy or weaken the APC. It is a broad-based political mobilization 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, with this decision, cease to be members of their political parties, but retain their identities, structures and political interests, particularly at the state and legislative level.

“Presidential politics is not the same as any other electoral contest. A person can support Tinubu for president and at the same time support his party’s candidate for governor or National Assembly. This is democracy,” he said.