Vice President Kashim Shettima has rejected the plan of Nyesom Wike’s Rainbow Coalition for split voting.

He urged supporters to vote only for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general election.

Similarly, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) rejected any involvement in what it described as the APC Rainbow Coalition, accusing the ruling party of attempting to infiltrate opposition parties and weaken their structures ahead of the 2027 general elections.

APC elders in Ondo State also rejected any coalition arrangement that would require the party to sacrifice its candidates or surrender constituencies in exchange for support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election, adding that the APC could win the state without any coalition.

Shettima issued the directive on Wednesday in Lafia, Nasarawa State, during the APC presidential campaign rally.

The Rainbow Coalition, led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is mobilising support for President Tinubu’s re-election.

Wike had repeatedly said the coalition was set up only to back the President, while it would back candidates of other parties for governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly seats.

Shettima disagreed with that position, saying the Presidency would not accept such an arrangement and that President Tinubu’s main message is a clean sweep for the party.

“APC from top to bottom; APC from bottom to top. We do not want a situation where they say vote for the President and not the governor, or vote for the governor and not the President, or the senator, or the House of Assembly. We want APC straight,” Shettima stated.

The SDP also disclosed plans to collaborate with other opposition parties to protect votes by jointly training polling agents and establishing common election-monitoring situation rooms across the country.

National Chairman of SDP, Prof. Sadiq Gombe, during an engagement with nine governorship candidates from different states in Abuja, yesterday, disclosed that the meeting was organised to harmonise strategies, share experiences and strengthen the party’s preparations for the presidential, governorship and legislative elections.

Gombe said the SDP was fully prepared for the elections and would not support any attempt to postpone the polls.

“We are not part of any attempt whatsoever to shift the elections for whatever reason. We are ready, and we have been preparing. We are doing everything possible to win the election at the national level and in most states of the federation,” he said.

He identified Dr Adewale Adebayo and Dr Usman Bugaje as the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates, respectively.

On the Rainbow Coalition, Gombe claimed that the ruling party was exploring ways to draw opposition members into the arrangement to weaken their political structures.

Speaking under the PBAT Mandate Elders Forum during a briefing in Akure, chairman of the forum, Demola Ijabiyi, addressed the issue of the proposed Rainbow Coalition, stating that while cooperation among political parties pursuing a common objective is valuable, the circumstances of each state must determine the form such cooperation takes.

According to the elders, in Ondo, where the APC controls government at both state and local levels, there is no justification for any coalition arrangement under any guise.

Ijabiyi, who revealed the establishment of the Progressive Mandate Forum (PMF), a state-wide mobilisation structure inaugurated across all 18 local councils, stated that the mandate would extend its organisation to every ward and polling unit, mobilise the electorate, and work towards delivering over one million votes for Tinubu alongside victory for all APC national and state legislators.