Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike and some key Rivers State stakeholders in the Rainbow Coalition have reportedly held a strategic meeting in Spain ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who recently identified with the coalition, was not at the gathering. Those said to have taken part include Chief Marcus Nle Ejii, Executive Director for Projects and Infrastructural Development at the South South Development Commission (SSDC); Senator Mao Ohabunwa, chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt; and Kingsley Ogundu Chinda, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the state.
The purpose of the meeting was not made public. Given the calendar, it is unlikely to be unrelated to the January and February 2027 polls. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) opened the campaign for the 6 February 2027 governorship elections on Tuesday, 8 September. Wike has already named Chinda, a member of the House of Representatives, as his preferred successor to Fubara.
A coalition meeting abroad, without the sitting governor, is a signal about who is in the room when the next ticket is discussed. Fubara’s alignment with the Rainbow Coalition was presented as reconciliation. His absence from a session that includes the man Wike has endorsed to replace him raises a simpler question: whether that alignment includes a say in the succession, or only a public handshake. Chinda’s presence answers part of that question from Wike’s side.
None of the participants has issued a communiqué. Until they do, the facts on record are the location, the guest list and the missing governor. Campaign season has started. How the coalition speaks with one voice in Rivers—or whether it speaks with two—will be tested on the ground, not in an unpublished meeting in Spain.
