OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, NYESOM E. WIKE: PRE-ACTION NOTICE AGAINST THE RAINBOW COALITION IN RIVERS STATE BECAUSE IT IS A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS 130, 224 TO 228 OF THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION AND SECTIONS 77, 82 TO 88 OF THE ELECTORAL ACT, 2026 (NIGERIA IS NOT PRACTISING A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM WHEREIN A SUBSUMPTION AND DESTRUCTION OF OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES IS PERMISSIBLE)".

OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, NYESOM E. WIKE: PRE-ACTION NOTICE AGAINST THE RAINBOW COALITION IN RIVERS STATE BECAUSE IT IS A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS 130, 224 TO 228 OF THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION AND SECTIONS 77, 82 TO 88 OF THE ELECTORAL ACT, 2026 (NIGERIA IS NOT PRACTISING A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM WHEREIN A SUBSUMPTION AND DESTRUCTION OF OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES IS PERMISSIBLE)".

By

Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, SCN.

Your Excellency, NYESOM E. WIKE, CON, LIFE BENCHER, Sir,

"Nigeria operates a presidential system of government as explicitly established by Chapter I, Section 130 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Modeled largely after the United States, this system is anchored on the absolute separation of powers, a directly elected Executive, and a system of checks and balances."

Sections 224 to 228 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 prescribes and institutionalised the mechanism for political parties, including opposition political parties to serve as checks and balances to prevent tyranny by the members of the ruling majority political party.

It is only in a Parliamentary system of government that opposition political parties are required to merge with the ruling majority political party to form the required quorum in the Parliament usually after any election.

Since the year 2023, His Excellency Nyesom E. Wike, CON has violated all the above named provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

In the process Wike has completely destroyed the People's Democratic Party (PDP) that was previously the major opposition political party since the year 2015.

One example, is how on 21st May 2026, his ally, Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda, who is on record as the Minority Leader of the said PDP has now emerged as the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is the ruling majority political party in the House of Representatives, National Assembly (national parliament of Nigeria).

Not yet done with his dismantling and civic disobedience to the provisions of Sections 130, 224 to 228 of the Nigerian Constitution, Wike has now introduced what he calls the "Rainbow coalition" of minority political parties in Rivers State.

According to Wike, who claims that he graduated as a lawyer, the primary purpose of the said "Rainbow coalition" is to eventually adopt a single candidate as governorship candidate of Rivers State and to ensure that all these minority political parties ensure that President Tinubu is voted for and re-elected as President of Nigeria during the 2027 general elections.

Apart from being a direct violation of Sections 130, 224 to 228, of the Nigerian Constitution, what Wike is doing by means of the said Rainbow coalition is an exhibition of both moral and factual contradictions.

It is also a gross violation of the Electoral Act, 2026 and an attempt to disenfranchise and rob the constituents of Rivers State of their electoral rights.

This is so because the constituents have at different times voted in primary elections that produced the different governorship candidates of the different minority political parties in Rivers State.

Now instead of allowing the constitutes to cast their votes during the 2027 general elections for the same governorship candidates that emerged as candidates of the different minority political parties in Rivers State.

Wike wants a few so-called leaders of the said Rainbow coalition of minority political parties to select only one governorship candidate of one of the minority political parties (this selection is to be done to the exclusion of the constituents who previously voted during direct primaries).

Again, Wike also wants the so-called leaders of the Rainbow coalition to select President Tinubu of the APC as a consensus candidate whom all the minority political parties would vote for during the 2027 general elections. 

Again this is done to the exclusion of the constituents of Rivers State who had previously voted for Presidential Candidates of each of their minority political parties during the primary elections.

All the foregoing actions and proposed actions of Wike are direct violations of Sections 77 and 82 to 88 of the Electoral Act, 2026.

Our Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners-ALDRAP shall serve a PRE-ACTION NOTICE against Wike by Monday 1st June 2026, to "cease-and-desist", if he fails to heed the warning, we shall instruct our lawyers to file a lawsuit.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, SCN 

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