• Rainbow Coalition, threat to democracy, says PDP faction

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has identified infrastructure development and administrative reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s administration as key advantages in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) bid for re-election in 2027.
   
Wike, who is also the coordinator of the FCT Presidential Campaign Council, said the administration’s projects and achievements would form the basis of its campaign, insisting that its performance, rather than political promises, would be presented to voters.
   
In the meantime, a faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Turaki, has urged party members to disregard Wike’s Rainbow Coalition being organised to campaign for Tinubu’s re-election.
   
Insisting that opposition parties should offer Nigerians an alternative to the incumbent government rather than praise it, the spokesperson, Ini Ememobong, described the coalition as a major threat to electoral democracy, warning that it could push Nigeria towards an electoral monarchy.
   
Speaking yesterday at the Rainbow Coalition stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, the minister expressed confidence that the FCT and Rivers State, where he disclosed an assigned responsibility to coordinate the president’s re-election, would deliver their votes to Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 election.
   
According to Wike, the administration’s record in the FCT, particularly in infrastructure, security and institutional reforms, would strengthen its appeal to residents ahead of the election.
   
The reforms, he noted, included addressing the longstanding concerns over the representation of FCT indigenes in governance, as well as their opportunities for career advancement in the civil service.
   
Among others, Wike said the establishment of the FCT Civil Service Commission, the appointment of permanent secretaries, and the emergence of a head of service had created opportunities for workers to advance to the highest levels of their careers.
   
However, Ememobong argued in a statement yesterday that “the paramount duty of the opposition is to provide an alternative to the incumbent, not to massage their ego. If opposition parties are to ally, they will do so among themselves, not with the governing party.”
   
The faction also criticised Wike for urging PDP members to collapse their political structures for Tinubu’s re-election, describing the move as shameful. Rather, it urged party members to remain loyal to the PDP as the group awaits a Court of Appeal judgment in its bid to take over the party’s leadership.