Wike, His Rainbow Coalition And The Politically Lazy Governors -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

Nyesome Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will go down in Nigeria history not just as one of the nation’s most controversial politician but as one of its worst political contractor and mercenary. He will be remembered for his selfishness, hypocrisy, sycophancy and pettifoggery; a classical case of crass opportunism. This is exhibited in all decisions, his actions and utterances. He is the undertaker hired to kill and bury the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the platform he used to climb the political ladder and which he had destroyed after climbing, and he has his leg in the ruling All Progressives’ Congress (APC), where he is enjoying an appointment as the FCT Minister.

And to continue to enjoy the APC patronage sitting on the fortunes of the PDP, the Obiakpor, Rivers State-born politician created his own hybrid political arrangement that he called the Rainbow Coalition for the 2027 elections. According to Wike, the Rainbow Coalition is a cross-party alliance for what he called the Renewed Hope Family which he intends to bring together members of his destroyed PDP camp, the decimated Labor Party group, the Action Alliance and other groups for the purpose of working to keep Tinubu in power beyond 2027. The number two reason for the formation of the alliance is to make the political parties in Rivers State, his home state, to agree to field one candidate that will succeed Governor Siminalayi Fubara in 2027.

And is usual about everything emanating from the Rivers State political strong man, his Rainbow Coalition is generating ripples in the political circles and in the public space. First, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said that Wike has no mandate to speak for all the political parties and called his claim “unfounded and misleading and exists only in his imagination.” IPAC says that the parties are independent and decisions can only come from the parties’ leadership. In the same vein, the opposition parties in Rivers State: the ADC, NDC and Labor party have publicly distanced themselves from the Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.

Furthermore, the APC political bigwigs are suspicious of Wike’s intentions. The APC governors speaking through its chairman Senator Hope Uzodinma, the governor of Imo State said that they are opposed to any political coalition or alliance that could threaten the chances of the party and its candidates in the 2027 elections. Wike was also accused by some concerned APC stalwarts of using the platform to support politicians who lost the APC primaries and are now contesting under the PDP platform. Senator Hope Uzodinma who doubles as the secretary of the Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council secretary maintained that “aligning with such a political arrangement could undermine Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid and weaken the APC ahead of the election”.

And following the APC’s governors’ opposition to his Rainbow Coalition, the former Rivers State governor reacted by describing the APC governors as “politically lazy”, stating that his Rainbow Coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is his own way of mobilizing support across political parties for Mr. President.

Indeed, the APC governors are politically lazy but not in the sense that Wike meant it (for he meant that they do not have the same will, the mentality and aggression to rig election as he has). They and the entire APC structure are lazy because they have never worked hard enough to better the lots of the suffering Nigerians in spite of the resources at their disposal. Yes, they are administratively lazy because they have failed woefully to provide good governance to the people. They failed woefully to deliver the dividends of democracy; their primary concern being about how to hatch plans to retain power and extend the stay of Tinubu against the will of the electorate. They have given Nigerians the worst form of leadership in history.

Talking about political laziness, Wike and his principal, Tinubu are politically lazier than the others in that they play toxic politics. Politics devoid of principles, ethics and values; politics of disservice, self-aggrandizement and primitive accumulation. They play politics of bitterness, acrimony and vendetta. Tinubu and Wike believe in do-or-die politics and they are ever ready to break the rule of engagement in other to win.

But what is the implication of the Wike’s altercation with the APC governors? Is it an indication of a crack in the APC’s wall? Is it an indication of lack of cohesion in the party? Is it an indication of discontent and disillusionment within members of the party? Is the APC heading for implosion or disintegration? What does this portend for the party that wants to retain power at all costs? Clearly, the answers to these questions would unfold as we get closer the general election in 2027.

There is no doubt that Wike is Tinubu’s hench-man. Wike was used to rig the election for Tinubu in Rivers State in 2023 and he was rewarded with the FCT Minister appointment and given full financial autonomy by removing the FCT from the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The purpose being to empower him to replicate the rigging he orchestrated in 2023 in Rivers State, in the FCT where Tinubu failed hopelessly. And now that the countdown for the 2027 has begun, Wike is obviously desperate to deliver in order to remain politically relevant being that he has no job other than politics.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK