NIGERIA: The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has declared that the ruling party will not support candidates of other political parties in the 2027 general elections, amid disagreements over the proposed Rainbow Coalition to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.
Yilwatda said APC governors were expected to promote and support candidates of the ruling party at all levels, dismissing suggestions that the APC had endorsed an arrangement that could encourage its members to back opposition candidates, reports Nigerian Tribune.
“As a party, we will not support any candidate outside our party,” the APC chairman declared during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He added that the party expected its governors to maintain the same position ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The governors’ position is that they are promoting their own party in their respective states. They will support only APC candidates,” he said.
The declaration comes amid disagreements involving the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and APC governors over the Rainbow Coalition.
The proposed political arrangement seeks to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election while allowing participants to retain their membership of other political parties.
The controversy centres on whether politicians can support Tinubu in the presidential election while backing candidates of other parties in governorship and legislative contests.
While Wike has maintained that supporting Tinubu does not necessarily mean supporting APC candidates in other elections, APC governors have expressed concerns that the arrangement could undermine the ruling party’s candidates and electoral interests.
Responding to questions from the programme’s anchor, Seun Okinbaloye, on whether the APC had endorsed the Rainbow Coalition, Yilwatda distinguished the party’s official position from the political choices of individuals belonging to other parties.
He maintained that the APC would not support candidates outside its platform, insisting that the party’s electoral interests must remain central to its campaign strategy.
Asked whether the arrangement could leave Tinubu without adequate support from members of the National Assembly and other elected officials if opposition candidates won legislative seats while campaigning alongside the President, Yilwatda reiterated that APC governors were committed to promoting candidates of the ruling party in their respective states.
The APC chairman rejected suggestions that the party’s position was unclear, insisting that its governors would campaign for APC candidates across the country.
