Rainbow Coalition: I’m Not Opposed To Anybody Supporting Tinubu’s Re-election -Yilwatda

Amid the face off between the governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike over his Rainbow Coalition, the party’s National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda declared he is not opposed to anybody supporting the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

The feud started when the APC governors rejected any political alliance or arrangement they said could undermine the party or its candidates in the 2027 election.

The declaration was widely viewed as a response to Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, which the FCT minister has said is focused on mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election rather than supporting APC candidates in other elections.

But speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Yilwatda said the concern of the governors is to work for the overall victory of the APC while Wike remains in his party, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) but still supporting President Tinubu.

According to the APC national chairman, there were other political parties such as Labour Party which do not have presidential candidates and are supporting President Tinubu while working for their candidates for other positions.

“As a party, we will not choose for other parties. So, for example, I can’t enforce on Wike what he should support. He has a right to express what he wants to do. He say he will support us,” Yilwatda said.

Reminded that the APC governors had rejected the Rainbow Coalition, he said: “the governors said that they will support their candidates from top to bottom as governors. Even me, as a party chairman, I will support our candidates as APC from top to bottom. I will not support anybody other than my party.”

Told that his response suggested endorsement of the Rainbow Coalition, he said: “No. Listen, I said, he(Wike) is in a different political party. I cannot make a choice of who he will select or who he will vote for in the general election.

“I am not opposed to anybody who wants to support President Bola Tinubu. The governors’ position is that they are promoting their own party in their states, they will support only APC.”

Yilwatda insisted that Nigerians still have faith in APC as well as Tinubu and would entrust them with their mandate in next year’s general election.

According to him the reforms introduced by the administration were already yielding positive results and the temporary difficulties are fizzling out.

“When we came in…the generating companies had been owed trillions of Naira. Today, we have offset all those trillions of Naira that we were owing the generating companies.

“We were owing the pensioners from the railway to Nigerian airways, several other government agencies, into trillions of Naira. Today, we’ve offset all those bills…

“Most companies that invested in Nigeria, they couldn’t recoup their money because Nigeria couldn’t get enough dollars to offset those bills…What we are passing through at this moment is temporal. The increase in cost of our fuel is temporal,” he said.

Yilwatda also insisted that the administration is not bringing back fuel subsidy but only defraying the cost now.

He also said the tax reforms introduced by the administration are friendly to the vulnerable Nigerians.

“So, that in itself is a social protection for the vulnerable people. That’s number one. The health sector we defray the cost of dialysis…malaria. We have done the same thing for other sectors in terms of health.

“Now, these are also a form of social protection for the vulnerable people. That same tax reform, pharmaceutical materials, equipment and medications are not taxed.

“Housing materials are not taxed. Food is not taxed. All these are a form of social protection for the vulnerable people because these are basic things that vulnerable people need and they are not taxed.

“Probably, there are also social protection in terms of housing that we have done also. Housing for the vulnerable through the Renewed Hope housing initiative which reduces the cost. This is also a form of social protection for the vulnerable people..,” Yilwatda added.

On power generation, he said: “the new power regime allows for the states and private citizens to generate power, sell to the individuals, sell to government, and also they can generate more. They can transmit, and they can distribute as they deem fit. Now, this opportunity has given the state an advantage in power.”

The national chairman stressed that APC is on ground accross the country, saying the seeming opposition in the North posed no threat as it is ochestrated by few individuals.

Yilwatda also said the party’s strength is evident in its victory in the off season elections which the acclaimed major opposition parties like the African Democratic Congress and Nigeria Democratic Congress could not come second to APC.

The APC national chairman said the party has put in place internal mechanisms to resolve issues in some states chapters of the party ahead of the general election.

While dismissing claims that some defectors were joining the APC to be protected from corruption cases, he said: “nobody is protected. I don’t want to mention names, but I know members of our party (APC) who are undergoing prosecution – who appear in court every day.

“As APC members, we can’t use strict prosecution to go ahead and deny people their fundamental human rights.”