The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Senator Adeniyi Adegbomire (SAN), has described the rainbow coalition as an anti-party activity against the interest of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Adegbomire, who represents the Ondo Central Senatorial District, stated this on Monday while speaking with newsmen at the Akure Airport upon his arrival for a reception organised in his honour by party members.

The senator, who is recontesting the senatorial seat, emphasised that anyone championing the rainbow coalition is working against the ruling APC and its candidates in the next year’s general election.

While stressing that he was unaware of any aggrieved party member participating in the coalition, he expressed confidence that the grievances and perceived crisis within the APC in Ondo State would not jeopardise the party’s chances in the forthcoming elections.

“I don’t know about any aggrieved member that is in Rainbow Coalition. I don’t know about it. I always tell people nobody does anti-party. Nobody has come out to say he wants to go anti-party. So, I would like to believe that they are also with us.

“That’s natural. When I won three years ago, there were aggrieved people. But I still won the election. That’s natural. There will be fallout out of the primaries. But at the end of the day, we will win as a party. We will work together in unity and we will ensure that we are winning,” he said.

The senator also slammed former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress All Progressives Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, over his promise to restore petroleum subsidy if elected in the next year’s election.

He argued that the removal of subsidy was necessary for Nigeria’s economic survival, asking Nigerians to choose between receiving salaries and buying cheap petrol.

“The issues are very simple. The reality of it is that, except we are emotional about it, the facts are very well known. And I will give you just two facts. Somebody who says he is running for president said, ‘Oh, I’m going to restore subsidies.’ So, I started to laugh.

“I asked the person a very simple question: Is it better for you not to be paid your salary for ten months and say, ‘But I am buying petrol’? Or is it better for you to earn a salary, earn a better salary, and be able to buy that petrol? You need to choose.

“It is very simple. Before Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu got there, there were states that could not pay salaries. And let us look at those states, for example. Now, our governor says he wants to have a bridge worth over a hundred billion Naira. Would he do it before Asiwaju? No! So, we need to be practical about it.

“If people cannot invest. If people are afraid to invest. If industries are not working. Then how do people have money in their pockets? All of these things that they are talking about. It is nonsensical as far as I am concerned. The facts themselves show that Asiwaju has done excellently well. And you must put it in context.

“When we got in 2023, Nigeria was technically bankrupt. Now, we have over 54 billion in foreign reserves. Somebody has achieved that in three years. It is a record. So, let us be factual. Let us not be emotional. However, I recognise the fact that people are going through hard times,” he stated.