GOV AS 001: Fubara throws Wike’s camp into panic

By Daniel Abia, P/Harcourt

Governor Siminalayi Joseph Fubara is an enigma whose grandstanding posture appeals to different people differently. To the civil servants, he is “a messiah” sent to improve their welfare. To the political class, Fubara is the “weakest” and most “timid” governor in the political history of Rivers State. Others see him as a man in political servitude. To some more, he is an astute manager of the state’s resources with an eye on development and the general welfare of its people.

Just a few months into his administration in 2023, Fubara’s government was beleaguered with bitter political crisis that involved his godfather and minister of the federal capital territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, on one hand and the state House of Assembly on the other.

The crisis raged like a wildfire in the summer culminating into the bombing of the Assembly Complex to frustrate a possible impeachment threat in 2024 and the eventual declaration of a state of emergency by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on March 18, 2025.

The consequence of that declaration was the suspension of the governor, his deputy and the House of Assembly.

The governor was often abused of not wielding the power he has to exert himself and call Wike’s bluff.

He often treaded the path of peace rather than confrontation.

Post-Suspension Fubara                 

 When he resumed duties following the lifting of the six months suspension on September 18, 2025, Rivers people and indeed, Nigerians began to see a different Fubara: This time, a bold, confident and focused governor was ready to take on any foe.  

“Perhaps, he must have developed a thick skin and learned a lot of political lessons during the six months hibernation”, said Franklin Ntekim, a public analyst.

The turn of event began on Monday, December 8, 2025 when Fubara had a closed-door meeting with Tinubu in the Villa.

The governor explained that he went to brief the President on the political developments in the state. The next day, Tuesday 9, the unexpected happened.

In a brief meeting with stakeholders in Government House Port Harcourt, Fubara, beaming with smiles, announced to his supporters that he had decided to resign from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the All Progressives Congress, APC. Immediately, the hall went into jubilation with his supporters chanting “by your mandate we shall stand” signifying their unalloyed support for Tinubu.

The next day, Fubara was issued the APC registration number 001, a clear indication of his role as the political leader of the party in Rivers, undisputed. From one occasion to another, Fubara told those concerned not to support Tinubu cunningly but should come straight: “No dey support Tinubu from corner corner”. He was apparently referring to Wike who is yet to officially announce his defection to the APC.   

On a positive note, since his defection,  Fubara has been playing host to prominent APC and federal government officials including the national security adviser, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, APC national leaders and key ministers. They all poured encomiums on the governor over his style of leadership and determination to maintain peace and order in the state.

Panic in Wike’s camp

 The sudden political rise and realignment of Fubara and the high-stake visit by prominent personalities from the APC did not go down well with the camp of the minister of the FCT.

Wike, at a point, threw tantrums at Ribadu and Ajibola Bashiru, national secretary of the APC, accusing them of eyeing the N600 billion Rivers reserved fund.

The embattled minister, who is currently on a ‘thank you tour’ of the 23 local government areas of the state, has publicly declared that joining the APC will not guarantee automatic ticket for Fubara for a second term.

The minister told Rivers people that they should not trust anybody who cannot keep to his promise with power.

He apparently told the governor to explain to the state the agreement that they entered into before Tinubu which, according to him, he Fubara has refused to keep.

Wike had made it clear that real politics would start this January and that no amount of financial war chest, not even the N600 billion would save the governor at the battle field.

The fact that campaigns for the 2027 general elections are yet to start officially, the tour of the local government areas by the minister on the platform of the Renewed Hope Agenda, is an obvious subtle campaign.

The former governor appears to use the opportunity of the tour to tell his loyalists at the LGs, especially the 23 council chairmen whom he installed in the last council elections, not to support Fubara second term.

The council elections were conducted on August 30, 2025 following the cancellation of the one that was organised by Fubara on October 4, 2024.

The August 2025 polls were strictly supervised by Wike with APC taking 21 councils while the PDP got only two.

It is only morally right that those council chairmen allegedly installed by the minister would be subservient and do his biddings.

It therefore implies that the alleged timidity of Fubara has become a terror in the camp of the minister and therefore compelling him to kick-start campaign much earlier than expected just to keep in touch with his political structure as countdown to the actual election in 2027 is just about to begin.

Collapse of Peace Deal

 Not many Nigerians believed that the truce brokered by Tinubu between Wike and Fubara last June would last the test of time.

Though some pictures emerged with the duo posing together at public functions at the time, it was obvious that there was still mutual suspicion and lack of trust.

It explains why it became difficult for Fubara to have an interface with the lawmakers since he resumed duties from the six months suspension. Speaker of the House, Martins Amaewhule, a protégé of Wike, went public and castigated the government of doing nothing or little to salvage the dilapidating educational sector in the state.

Amaewhule alleged that the N600 billion left behind by the former Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok Etteh Ibas (retired), was being squandered by the governor without approval from the House.

He accused the governor of making clandestine moves to use the money to “buy” some of the lawmakers over.

Just a few days after the accusation, Amaewhule and 15 other lawmakers defected from the PDP and joined APC. Sensing some ulterior motives in the offing that this may again lead to a possible impeachment attempt on him, Fubara announced his own defection just a week after.

That smart move sealed whatever plans the lawmakers must have mooted.

Now it will be extremely difficult if not suicidal for anybody to conceive an idea of initiating an impeachment plan against Fubara being the leader of the APC in the state and enjoying the full support of Tinubu and the entire leadership of the APC at the center.

Division in Rivers

The renewed political crisis between Fubara and his godfather has once again deepened the hitherto unhealthy division in the state.

The polarity this time does not even respect party lines.

Wike had, in his media chat, penultimate Monday, boasted that Fubara does not have any noticeable political structure going to the APC.

He said that before the governor went to the ruling party, the 22 LG chairmen in the state had defected to the APC alongside 16 PDP House of Assembly members and some national assembly members.

“They left on their own”, he said.

The national vice chairman of the APC, Victor Giadom, derided the governor when he alluded to the fact that if anybody wants anything from Gokana LGA, including the “so called governor”, he must pass through Wike.

It presupposes that in the eye of Giadom, Wike is the defacto governor of the state.

Also, the state chairman of the PDP, Hon Robinson Ewor, who accused the governor of deceiving the party, has since aligned with Wike “to support Tinubu in 2027”.

Ewor said the governor reneged on all the agreements reached during the crisis period, hence, should not be trusted with power.

On the other hand, loyalists of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and 2023 PDP presidential candidate, like Dr. Abiye Sekibo, Uche Secondus, former PDP national chairman, Celestine Omehia, former governor, and Austin Opara, former deputy speaker, House of Reps, among others, have regrouped for Fubara and Tinubu.

Also, the president general of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Senator Asuta John Mbata, recently endorsed Fubara and also declared that “there is only one governor in Rivers State”. He told his Eneka community people in Obio/Akpor local government area  (where Wike hails from) to support the governor’s re-election next year.

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