Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has said it is now difficult to rig an election.

Fayose said this when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics monitored by the column.ng

He said, “Politics is not a tea party. Asiwaju (referring to Tinubu) will have 12 million votes. Go and write it down. You know to rig election is now difficult. Very very difficult.”

On the controversy over the Rainbow Coalition convened by Wike, Fayose said Wike and the APC governors were backing Tinubu in different ways.

Wike and APC governors have been locking horns over the coalition, with the governors vowing not to support any alliance or political arrangement capable of weakening the APC or creating competing interests within the ruling party.

Wike had fired back at the governors, saying his target was making President Bola Tinubu secure a second term, and not to assist them win their states.

But Fayose said what mattered was whether the coalition could deliver votes for the president, particularly in Rivers State.

“I sincerely don’t want to join issues on these two sides. These are issues of simply everybody exercising their interest in the system. And everything I tell you again, is not about an NDC having an incursion as a result of what they are doing or ADC. No.”

“If Rainbow works for Wike in Rivers, and it can bring results, that’s all the president wants.

“If Rainbow works and can give him numbers, you understand? So be it. The government says in our state, after all, Wike will not come to their states. Wike will not come there and vote.

“He will not come there and form a coalition rainbow. And don’t let us deceive ourselves. Even in Nigeria. It’s only that rainbow is in a particular state. Where the handler says, I can handle the rainbow. If the rainbow is to carry everybody along, guarantee everybody’s interest, ensure that, okay, if rainbow produces this, produces that, he will get this, you will get that.

“As a man, who could flip an election, for a governorship candidate of people, and the PDP also could. If they have the capacity, and that they have done it, then he has capacity to do it in some states. The question is that, has he gone to any other state, to preach rainbow? No.”

Fayose said the disagreement between Wike and the APC governors should not be interpreted as a threat to Tinubu’s re-election.

“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 and the institution, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and they are both saying different things in different ways.

“Nigerian Governors’ Forum say we are not doing coalition, Wike says do what you have to do in your state. Whatever you feel comfortable with. If you are comfortable without a coalition, go ahead.

“The method that works for A might not work for B. And this is not even playing 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, interest, you should expect all this. This has taken nothing out of the system.

“That is the truth. This has taken nothing out of the system. So in my understanding, they all say the same thing in different ways.

“But don’t forget, everybody has his own ego. Every one of us, including myself.”

Fayose is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) working for the reelection of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He is also the second known PDP chieftain with an appointment under the APC administration.

Some months ago, Tinubu named Fayose Chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Board.

The Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), the umbrella body of governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has rejected any alliance or political arrangement that could undermine President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid or affect the party’s candidates in the 2027 general election.

The governors said they would neither participate in, support nor endorse any political arrangement capable of weakening the APC or creating competing interests within the ruling party.

Chairman of the forum and Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, made the position known after a closed-door meeting of the governors at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.

Reading the communique issued after the meeting, Uzodimma said the governors’ priority was to support candidates officially fielded by the APC at all levels.

He said the forum had no intention of supporting candidates outside the APC, stressing that the party’s candidates were contesting under its platform.

“The APC Governors Forum unanimously resolved that its members will not participate in, support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the re-election of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels.

“In other words, the forum has no intention to support any candidate at any level that is not an APC candidate because our candidates who are contesting the election are being sponsored by our party.

“The governors’ campaign commitment is exclusively to all APC candidates. All levels of the party campaign architecture will align with the expectations of Mr President and the strategic objectives of the party.”

On the proposed APC Presidential Campaign Council, the governors said they would take leading roles in mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election in their respective states.

According to them, the campaign strategy would focus on grassroots mobilisation, with efforts to reach communities and engage different demographic groups across the country.

The governors also pledged to strengthen internal party unity and harmonise campaign structures from the national level down to the constituencies.

They said they would equally continue to drive development in their respective states in line with the administration’s Renewed Hope agenda. agenda.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review the use of politically exposed academics as returning and collation officers for the 2027 elections.

The party made the call in a statement issued on Monday by Bolaji Abdullahi, its national publicity secretary.

The ADC’s position followed a newspaper report that more than 600 senior lecturers from public universities across northern Nigeria had endorsed President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.

The party said the reported endorsement raises concerns about electoral credibility and potential conflict of interest, particularly because university lecturers and vice-chancellors have routinely been appointed to collate election results and declare winners.

The ADC acknowledged that academics, like every other Nigerian, have the constitutional right to support or endorse political candidates.

However, the party argued that anyone who has openly taken a partisan position should not subsequently be entrusted with determining the outcome of an election involving the candidate they endorsed.

“You cannot campaign for a candidate and then be entrusted with counting the votes and declaring winners in the same election that your candidate is contesting in,” the statement reads.

The ADC urged INEC to establish and publish clear criteria that would exclude academics and other prospective election officials who have publicly endorsed candidates, participated in partisan political activities or demonstrated an obvious political affiliation.

The party also asked the commission to publish the names of proposed returning and collation officers sufficiently ahead of the elections.

According to the party, early publication would allow political parties and members of the public to identify and raise legitimate concerns about possible conflicts of interest.

“The integrity of an election does not begin when the first ballot is cast. It begins with the neutrality of the people entrusted to administer, collate, and declare its outcome,” the ADC said.

“Nigerians must never be placed in a position where those who have publicly chosen a side are subsequently presented as neutral arbiters of the contest.”

The party said its call was aimed at strengthening public confidence in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 elections.