Rainbow coalition: APC won’t support non-party candidates — Yilwatda

…says governors will back APC candidates across board 

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, despite the controversy surrounding the proposed Rainbow Coalition to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.

Yilwatda, who stated the party’s position during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said APC governors were expected to support their party’s candidates at all levels, dismissing suggestions that the party had endorsed an arrangement that could encourage its members to back opposition candidates.

“As a party, we will not support any candidate outside our party,” the APC chairman declared.

He added that the party would encourage its governors to maintain the same position during the elections.

ALSO READ: Petrol discount: Tinubu takes a cue from other world leaders — Presidency

“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 between Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and APC governors over the Rainbow Coalition, a political arrangement intended to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election while allowing participants to maintain their affiliations with other 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 support for Tinubu does not necessarily translate into support for APC candidates in other elections, the APC governors have expressed concern that such an arrangement could undermine the party’s candidates and electoral interests.

Responding to questions from Okinbaloye on whether the APC had endorsed the Rainbow Coalition, Yilwatda distinguished between the party’s official position and the choices available to politicians who belong 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 candidates from opposition parties won legislative contests while campaigning alongside the President. Yilwatda responded that the governors were committed to promoting APC candidates in their respective states.

The APC chairman, however, rejected the suggestion that the party’s position was unclear, maintaining that its governors would campaign for APC candidates.