By Omeiza Ajayi
Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, has said President Bola Tinubu fully understands the concept behind his Rainbow Coalition project, insisting that the sustained attacks on the initiative are being driven by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, whose ambition to become Senate President ahead of the expiration of his tenure has fuelled the crisis.
Speaking during a live interview on TVC on Monday night, Wike, who is also the national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, dismissed claims that the Rainbow Coalition posed any threat to President Tinubu’s re-election bid, describing the criticism as coming from someone seeking to cause crisis within the system rather than tell Nigerians the truth.
He said, “In a country like this, somebody whose tenure will be expiring in 10-11 months time, now because of wanting to change or cause crisis within the system, wants run for election to the Senate Presidency, and without telling people the truth, he Is now saying the Rainbow Coalition is a problem. How will the Rainbow Coalition be a problem? Mr President, everyone in all the states, support the President. You want to run for Senate, House of Reps, Governorship? it is your internal affair,” Wike said.
He explained that the coalition’s only position was that Nigerians across parties should support Tinubu’s re-election, while leaving room for members to pursue their own political ambitions at the state and National Assembly levels. “All they want me to do is to say, since they are supporting the President, nobody should run for National Assembly, nobody should run for State Assembly, nobody should run for Governorship. Where do you see that happening? Then they will call me to tell me, can we produce candidates of your party? Come on, who does that? No, sorry, I don’t,” he said.
Wike also dismissed reports that the President had agreed to concede nine states to him as part of the coalition arrangement, challenging those spreading the claim to name the states in question.
“First of all, did they tell you the nine states? No, they didn’t tell me. You see, we owe Nigerians the truth. Tell them the truth. Which are those nine states? State A, state B, state C?” he said, insisting that such propaganda could not have come from anyone genuinely working for the President’s re-election.
The minister pointed to the President’s position on creation of state police and the South-East presidency question as evidence of Tinubu’s boldness in tackling issues previous leaders avoided.
“Mr President has taken the bull by the horns and said, state police should be considered. People are saying, to solve our security problem, we must have a state police. Mr President has come out boldly to say, I am in support of what they are saying. We must implement it. How many people have done that?” he said, adding that he had never seen a president as committed to devolving power to sub-national governments.
“I have never seen, with all due respect, a man who believes that power should go down, make the rural areas, local governments, state governments have funds to develop. I have never seen that happen. I was governor. I know what I suffered.”
On suggestions that his coalition activities were positioning him to succeed Tinubu in 2031, Wike again rejected the claim, maintaining that his interests could not collide with the President’s since Tinubu would not be seeking re-election at that point.
He said questions about his ambition were misplaced given his political standing. “By the grace of God, I don’t think there’s anything a politician wants today that President Tinubu has not made me to achieve. And people should stop talking about ambition, ambition.”
Wike further argued that resistance to the Rainbow Coalition stemmed from a fear of losing control over key National Assembly positions rather than genuine concern for the President’s interest.
“For Mr President to win, not only a party. It’s not only APC supporting President, PDP supporting him, Labour supporting him, this party supporting him. You’re not happy. Simply because you know that you will not be in control. You are not going to be the one that will be in control of who will be Senate President? You want to make President to be a lame President. It will not work. President must still have that hand,” he said.
Asked whether he had reached out to the roughly three All Progressives Congress (APC) governors he does not appear to trust, Wike said there was no need for such moves in the absence of a genuine issue, adding that Tinubu had not called him over the matter because none existed. “Why would the President call me, is there any issue? The President will call you when there are issues, when he knows, look, this will give me problems. Of course, he is President and a politician. Who doesn’t know him that he’s a master strategist in this game?” he asked.
The minister drew a distinction between the governors he considered cordial and those he accused of manufacturing grievances against him, describing the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, as very timid.
“I don’t carry anybody’s fight. You have a problem with Saraki? You go and fight with Saraki. Why do you, as a politician, fall into the trap of Saraki? He (AbdulRazaq) carries propaganda every day against me.
“Have you forgotten all these people who fought me? When this fight was going on, they supported my colleagues and told my colleagues to deal with me, that enough is enough of me. My colleagues joined them. Now I have won. And now you want something from me? You say you want me to be a houseboy. Houseboy for what? That’s not possible. The point is that go and fight your fight,” he declared.
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