The President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Professor Okaba Benjamin, has stated that there is no issue if suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara chooses to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), noting that Nigerian politics is no longer ideologically driven.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Thursday, Prof. Benjamin remarked that political defection in Nigeria has become commonplace and no longer carries the stigma it once did.

He further emphasized that most Nigerian political parties function as platforms rather than ideological entities.

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“If a former Vice Presidential candidate can defect, what’s wrong about Fubara defecting to APC? There’s nothing wrong with that,” Benjamin said during the interview.

“We don’t have political parties, we have platforms put together for people to transmit from one position to the other.”

The statement follows rising speculation that Governor Fubara, recently suspended amid the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State, may be preparing to leave the PDP.

The speculation intensified after Fubara visited Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and met with two APC governors in what many see as reconciliation efforts.

Fubara also held a second high-profile meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu within days, further fueling talk of a potential party switch.

Benjamin argued that such political movements are now normalized in Nigeria. “Even President Tinubu may decide to join PDP someday if he sees it as a more veritable platform,” he stated.

He cited a conversation with a former party chairman who admitted knowing little about his own party’s constitution, as evidence of the shallow ideological grounding in Nigerian politics.

“I asked him about the first item in the party’s constitution and he said he didn’t know,” Benjamin said. “This shows that many politicians are driven by convenience, not conviction.”

Governor Fubara has previously stated he is willing to take any step necessary to ensure peace in Rivers State—a declaration Benjamin interprets as possibly including a party defection if it aids in stabilizing the region.

As political tensions in Rivers continue to simmer, the INC President’s comments highlight the growing flexibility—and perceived opportunism—within Nigeria’s political class.