Former Ebonyi State Governor and Minister of Works, David Umahi, has drawn a clear political boundary in Ebonyi State, declaring that the state remains firmly aligned with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and will not accommodate the Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
Umahi, while stressing that his relationship with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, remains cordial, said any political candidates or structures associated with the coalition would not be part of the political arrangement in Ebonyi.
The minister spoke at the weekend , during an inspection of Section Two of the Calabar-Abuja Superhighway at Ado in Benue State.
According to a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze, Umahi also directed contractors handling the highway project to accelerate construction work.
His remarks on the emerging political alignment followed questions over reports that Wike’s cross-party mobilisation platform could establish a foothold in Ebonyi, where Umahi retains considerable political influence.
“If Wike has candidates here, he has not told me. And his candidate cannot break our relationship, but his candidate is not part of our relationship,” Umahi said.
“There is no rainbow coalition in Ebonyi State,” he declared.
The Rainbow Coalition, promoted by Wike, is designed to bring politicians from different parties together to support President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid while allowing members to retain their separate party identities and pursue their interests in other electoral contests.
Umahi’s position effectively separates his personal relationship with Wike from the political structure he says operates in Ebonyi, making clear that cordial relations between the two politicians would not translate into acceptance of Wike’s political candidates in the state.
The former governor also used the occasion to revisit the circumstances surrounding his departure from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing the party of failing to adequately recognise the political interests of the South-East despite the region’s support for the party over the years.
“We supported PDP. We voted for presidents in PDP. And when it was our time for them to honour us, they did not honour us. They maltreated us,” he said.
Umahi, however, said politicians seeking to campaign in Ebonyi were free to do so, provided they conducted their activities without inflammatory rhetoric or attempts to destabilise the state.
“Anybody that wants to campaign, come and campaign. But don’t dish out hate speeches and you want to take those speeches, and you want that we should lay a red carpet for you. We will not do that,” he said.
“Nobody can foment crisis in Ebonyi State,” the minister added.
His comments come amid wider disagreements over how the Rainbow Coalition should operate alongside the APC as political activity ahead of the 2027 elections intensifies.
While Wike has maintained that the coalition is intended to mobilise support for Tinubu across party lines rather than replace the APC, some APC governors have expressed opposition to political arrangements they consider capable of weakening the party’s structures or affecting its candidates.
Umahi also defended the Federal Government’s distribution of infrastructure projects, rejecting suggestions that his role as Works Minister had resulted in an excessive concentration of federal projects in the South-East.
