A former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Ayodele Fayose, has dismissed the quarrel between the APC Governors Forum and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the rainbow coalition, insisting that the dispute is one of method rather than of loyalty and that it can only improve President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s prospects in 2027.
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Chief Fayose, who was among the non-members of the ruling party who worked for the President in 2023 and who now holds an appointment under the administration, spoke in a television interview in which he was pressed repeatedly on the coalition strategy, the state of the economy, and the opposition’s chances.
Opening his defence, the former governor said the controversy has been misread.
“None of the parties has said they’re not supporting the President. None of the parties. It is the methodology, the style, that is the issue,” he said.
He argued that friction of this kind is a normal feature of a contest involving powerful figures, and that it carries no cost.
“Let me summarise what’s going on, as everything works together for good for the President. Without controversy, you can’t get far. Controversy in itself will help the election. This controversy has nothing to do with the winning of the President. In fact, it makes it much better.”
“Nigerians know who Wike is. Nigerians know the institution, the Nigeria Governors Forum. They are both saying different things in different ways. The Governors Forum says we are not doing coalition. Wike said, do what you have to do in your state, whatever you feel comfortable with. If you’re comfortable without a coalition, go ahead. The method that works for A might not work for B.”
He insisted the dispute offers nothing to the opposition: “This does not even play to the hands of the opposition, because the two of them are united behind the President. And don’t forget, these are men of strength in our country. You should expect this. The moment there is interest, power struggle, you expect all this. This has taken nothing out of the system. That is the truth.”
He added that ego is an unavoidable element: “They all see the same thing in different ways. But don’t forget, everybody has his own ego. Every one of us, including myself. My positioning when I was governor was different from another governor’s, and different from the sitting governor’s. But that does not deny that we are all working for the same goal.”
Put to him that voters could be confused by being asked to vote for the ruling party at the presidential level and for another party in the National Assembly and governorship contests, particularly where political awareness is low, the former governor said the test is simply whether the method delivers.
“I sincerely don’t want to join issues on these two sides. These are issues of everybody exercising their interest in the system,” he said.
“If rainbow works for Wike in Rivers, and he can bring results, that’s all the President wants. If rainbow works and can give him numbers, so be it. The governors say, in our state, after all, he will not come to our states and form a coalition rainbow.”
He said the arrangement is in any event confined to states where the handler believes he can manage it: “Let us not deceive ourselves. Rainbow is in a particular state where the handler says I can handle a rainbow. If the rainbow is to carry everybody along, guarantee everybody’s interest, ensure that if rainbow produces this, you will get that.”
“And a man who could flip an election for a governorship candidate of APC and a PDP House of Reps, if he has the capacity, and he has done it before, then he has capacity to do it in some states.”
He questioned whether the strategy has even been exported: “The question is, has he gone to any other state to preach a rainbow?”
Told that rainbow arrangements are already visible in states such as Kwara, where members who left the ruling party are said to be urging voters to back the party in the governorship and House of Representatives contests while voting for the President at the top of the ballot, the former governor was unmoved.
“We are only flogging this issue. What works for me may not work for you. My capacity to deliver in any state is my strength,” he said.
“I was in an election. I can say anything. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. So many things were said, and when it didn’t work, everybody went back home. If Wike wants a rainbow in Kwara and it doesn’t work, so be it.”
He stressed the limit of the minister’s own commitment: “And don’t forget, Wike is not supporting people beyond the presidency, because he still wants to keep the PDP for the future. Therefore, the issue here that you are asking me about is the presidency.”
“Wike has not hidden his position. Neither have I hidden my position. Neither have the governors, the 31 of them, hidden their position to support the President. Nobody will tell me in Nigeria that you don’t know Wike. You don’t know his style. In fact, he will say what he will do before time.”
Confronted with the governors’ objection that they do not want that kind of division in their party, and that the minister is mobilising for the President while insisting the PDP remains free to contest the National Assembly, governorship and State Assembly elections, Chief Fayose said the alternative would be to wind up the party altogether.
“You are mixing it up, with all due respect. Wike cannot come and tell PDP members, don’t contest House of Reps. It’s not morally right for him to say, okay, you don’t contest governor, you don’t contest House of Assembly. No, he won’t say that.”
“It is either we fold the party and shut the party down, which is not his wish, and not our wish. His wish is that, apart from the presidency, which he is going to support, if anybody comes out under PDP it will be a paperweight. That’s the truth.”
He continued: “He has said it openly, he is the leader of that party. In House of Reps, everybody has shown interest. Then those who took forms in the PDP will go home and slug it out and find their way. But we cannot say anybody should not contest, except the party is done to existence. That is the truth.”
The former governor urged that attention be confined to the top of the ballot.
“Nobody should worry over issues that do not matter today. What matters is the presidential election. The moment the presidential election is over, you’ll be able to see the pattern yourself.”
He said no governor abandons his own base, whatever alliance he enters: “The pattern does not say that a governor who has voted in support of the President in APC will go back home and forget his own base. Nobody will do that. When a governor, after winning his election, says I’m going to support Mr President, he still has the election of the House of Assembly. And that can equally affect him. But he knows that he will do his own work to prevent a House of Assembly that’s going to give him issues. That’s the truth.”
To support his argument that voters are perfectly capable of splitting a ticket, the former governor recounted a personal experience of a ballot recount ordered by a tribunal.
“Let me give you one instance that will interest you. We’ve been to tribunal before, gotten an order of the court to go and count the ballot. When you go to INEC to count the ballot, people have reasonably, by 70 or 80 per cent, been able to select who they want.”
“In the same ballot, you see the President winning 80 per cent. You see House of Reps winning 30 per cent. You see Senate winning maybe 55 per cent. They were able to select, because politics is local.”
He dismissed the entire quarrel as theatre among powerful men: “The contest of a president today, Mr President Bola Tinubu, is not in contest. Even with the opposition, it’s not in contest. We should not just waste our time. All these big men are just playing politics of strength. Everybody has a measure of ego. Everybody too wants Mr President to see his effort. So play the game on.”
Challenged that, as a serving appointee, he is bound to be vigorous in his support, and asked why anybody should vote for the President in 2027 beyond his own benefit from the administration, the former governor rejected the suggestion that office has silenced him.
“Forget about my present situation. I don’t have a situation that gags my mouth. There are things I can tell the President. When I see, I say to him, Mr President, this is the situation, this is what people say. I am no more a small boy. Whatever God has given us today, we can’t equally finish it again. So it would be irresponsible to shy away from the truth. I’m only a value added when he has the opportunity of hearing the truth from me.”
The former governor then disclosed an approach he says he made to the President in 2019, before the last transition.
“I remember in 2019, I went to the current president in his house. I said, sir, why don’t you come to PDP? They will give you the ticket.”
“He just laughed and started dancing. You don’t know, this is the shortest point to the south. And indeed it was the shortest point to the south, because the North was there. You can’t defeat it.”
He cited the failed third term project as proof of the strength of the unwritten rules: “When Obasanjo wanted to do the third term, it didn’t work, because there are unwritten conventions that are within the norms of our politics today.”
Pressed to explain his claim that a particular candidate represents the shortest route back to the North, and challenged on the geography of his argument, the former governor set out his reasoning on power rotation.
“You see, it’s not in our constitution. Rotational presidency is not in our constitution. But it has become a norm. Nobody can shy away from it now.”
He argued that the South must be allowed to complete a full cycle: “The North wanted it back after eight years. The current situation is that we can do four years and not wait for eight. It’s an easy transition. If the South is short-changed, there will be confusion. Let us be very honest with ourselves.”
He also expressed unease at the pursuit of old allegations against the President: “One thing worries me when I see the pursuit. I respect him so much. When you get to that stage, at that age, with your relationship with the President, you start digging and digging, even issues already decided by courts in Nigeria. If at the end of the day all this your digging fails, and the man returns to office, how do you settle the difference? Do you settle it? When we say things, we must remember.”
Asked whether he could walk the streets of Ado-Ekiti or Ikere and convince residents that their lives are better than when the President took office, the former governor answered by pointing backwards rather than forwards.
“This country before Bola Tinubu. Tell me, and let us reflect, including those people you said I should go to. Was there a Nigeria? People wake up and say nonsense every day. There was no Nigeria. Everything was just out of order.”
He argued that the burden of the previous administration cannot be discounted: “Nigeria has come from the military to democratic Nigeria in the last 26 years. For the four or five years towards the end of President Buhari, the economy was terrible, in a way that with the exchange rate you could not plan a business. You can’t say I’m going to do this. And now it is unified.”
He cited infrastructure and the student loan scheme: “Beyond that, the roads in Nigeria. You don’t have to agree, but the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is almost completed. Between Sagamu, Ore and Benin, it has gotten better. There were bad roads before. Let’s go a little further. Anybody may not agree with the coastal road, but something has started that was never there before.” He also pointed to students now receiving support from the Federal Government under an ongoing scheme.
He conceded the limits of what has been achieved: “I surely cannot finish the problems of Nigeria overnight. Nobody is coming from anywhere to do that. These are things we can’t shy away from.”
He then turned the question on the opposition: “And the people contesting against him, what have they done to hand over Nigeria to them? What have they done? They can’t even field candidates in most of the states. What have they done?”
Asked what would have accounted for a defeat should the President lose in 2027, the former governor refused the premise of the question.
“This question does not arise. I beg your pardon. What are you comparing? There’s no comparison. There’s no comparison.”
Challenged as to who gave him the assurance that none of the opposition candidates can win, and reminded that he holds only one vote, he replied: “I’m analysing based on my experience. You brought me to this place because you know that I know a little about Nigeria. This politics is not a tea party. To defeat Tinubu, you will have over 12 million votes. You know, when I say things, write it down. Write it down.”
He offered a regional projection in support: “Let me give you an analysis again. I gave this analysis when I was talking in the South West. South West will come up with not less than six million difference. I’m telling you, between five and six million. Write it down. Maybe you will engage me again. That five million, who will vote for Obi? Who will vote for them? What is their structure?”
On the prospect of an opposition merger, he was dismissive: “Even if they come together, this man will still defeat them. But let us say they didn’t come together. Too bad for them.”
He closed by conceding the difficulty of the exercise he had just performed: “To read an election now is very difficult. Very, very difficult.”
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