Ayomide Awe
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has pledged to mobilise at least three million votes for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027, throwing his weight behind the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party alliance spearheaded by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Fubara made the commitment on Saturday at Tinubu’s presidential campaign rally held at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt, where he publicly endorsed the Wike-led Rainbow Coalition and its candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The governor said the coalition would embark on an extensive mobilisation exercise across Rivers State to secure what he described as a decisive victory for Tinubu.
He declared that the state would deliver nothing less than three million votes for the President, with Wike providing the political leadership and coordination for the campaign.
“Under your guidance and direction, under the guidance and direction of our leader, the coordinator of the presidential campaign council for Rivers State, the Honourable Minister, we will campaign, mobilise our people to secure and deliver a decisive victory with a vote not less than three million for Mr President,” Fubara said.
The governor also threw his weight behind the coalition’s controversial arrangement, which accommodates candidates from both the APC and the opposition PDP for elective positions in the state.
Fubara assured Tinubu that the coalition’s preferred candidates would be delivered in the January 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections, as well as the February governorship and State House of Assembly polls.
He said, “Let me also put it on record that in Rivers State, notwithstanding that our APC members were doing Rainbow Coalition, and in Rainbow Coalition, we have the slate, the slate runs from APC and PDP. We want to assure you that our slate will be delivered come January 2027, Mr President.”
The Rainbow Coalition, led by Wike, is an unusual political alliance comprising members of the APC and PDP, united by their support for Tinubu’s second-term ambition and an agreed list of preferred candidates for various elective positions.
The arrangement has, however, generated controversy within the APC, with some party leaders reportedly uncomfortable with a political structure that accommodates PDP candidates instead of exclusively supporting APC flag bearers.
The development is particularly significant given the bitter political confrontation between Fubara and Wike, which plunged Rivers State into a prolonged crisis beginning in late 2023.
The disagreement, largely centred on control of the state’s political structure, triggered a division in the Rivers State House of Assembly, impeachment moves against Fubara and a breakdown of relations between the governor and his predecessor.
The crisis eventually culminated in President Tinubu declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State in March 2025, resulting in the suspension of Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the state legislature for six months.
Fubara returned to office in September 2025 following the end of the emergency rule and subsequently renewed his political alliance with Wike, publicly acknowledging the FCT minister as the leader of the Rainbow Coalition in Rivers State.
His latest declaration at the Port Harcourt rally appears to further consolidate the reconciliation between the two political heavyweights and signals their readiness to work together to shape the political direction of Rivers State ahead of 2027.
With the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the governorship and State House of Assembly elections fixed for February 6, the coalition’s ability to translate its political arrangement into actual votes remains a major test.
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