The Rainbow Coalition is dead on arrival. And with it dies Nyesom Wike’s latest attempt to rebrand political opportunism as statesmanship.
What was unveiled in January 2026 with fanfare as a “bipartisan alliance” for Renewed Hope has been exposed for what it always was: a vehicle for one man’s survival. A Coalition that cuts across PDP, APC and Labour Party in Rivers State was never about Rivers State. It was about Wike. It was about creating a Structure where party loyalty does not matter, where ideology does not matter, where only loyalty to the FCT Minister matters.
In May, Wike stood in Port Harcourt and declared that this Rainbow Contraption would produce the next Governor of Rivers. By August, he had pulled Governor Fubara himself into its reconciliation meetings, forcing a truce born of federal pressure, not peace.
Now, just months later, the whole project has Collapsed under its own Contradictions.
This week, the Progressive Governors Forum led by Hope Uzodimma Slammed the door Shut. The APC Governors resolved unanimously that they will not support or endorse any alliance capable of creating Confusion and divided loyalty. They said their commitment is exclusively to APC Candidates. In plain language: We reject Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.
Even the opposition in Rivers rejected it. The ADC and Labour Party chapters distanced themselves from it in January, calling it an attempt to diminish the opposition. The APC blocs themselves warned that it would hurt Tinubu and hurt APC Candidates.
Why did it Collapse? Because Nigerians are no longer fooled. You cannot be a PDP Card-carrying member, serving as a Minister in an APC government, leading a Coalition that claims to be both PDP and APC, and expect serious politicians to follow you.
This is the pattern. In 2023, it was the G5 Integrity Group that helped divide and destroy the PDP. In 2026, it is the Rainbow Coalition trying to divide and Confuse the APC. Same script, different year. Wike creates a Crisis, then presents himself as the solution to the crisis.
And that brings us to the real motive: 2031.
Wike believes nobody knows about 2027. What if Tinubu doesn’t Win? That is his real Calculation. The Rainbow Coalition was never about 2027; it was a test run for 2031. It was an attempt to build a personal political party without a party – a Structure that is neither PDP nor APC but Wike. A Structure where he can negotiate with any side, betray any side, and still claim to be the kingmaker of Rivers and the South-South.
Let us be Clear: Wike doesn’t like Tinubu, he knows he is not performing. He only sees Tinubu as a protector and a vehicle to the next level in his politics of treachery and betrayal. He is not loyal to Tinubu, he is loyal to his own ambition. He uses power to protect himself from his own past and to buy a ticket to his own future.
He wants to reinvent himself from a local strongman who weaponized emergency rule in his own State to a National Statesman who can claim he delivered Rivers for Tinubu and therefore deserves to be compensated in 2031.
But Rivers people have said no. They watched the State of emergency declared on March 18, 2025, that paralyzed their economy, sent Oil Companies home and forced their Budget to be passed in Abuja. They know who Cheered that emergency and who benefited from it.
You cannot destroy Rivers economy with a State of emergency and then come back to Sell Rivers people a Rainbow.
Rivers people have seen the rainbow, and there is no gold at the end of it – only one man’s ambition.
Members of the Coalition are Currently left in Confusion on who to Support or why they should Support who. Some say, give APC this one, give PDP that one. All of them are Children of the same Corrupt and greedy mother.
With the latest development around the Governors rejecting Wike and his greedy rainbow coalition, the dice is cast, align or be crushed. And the Governors are not playing. They are saying Tinubu Choose between the greedy two faced Wike or the 34 Governors you have.
The Rainbow Coalition has Collapsed because it had no ideology, no members, no loyalty except to one man. And 2031 will not be built on a Collapsed Rainbow.
Barikpana Nwibira Esq.
Bori,
Nigeria
