Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, yesterday, dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), ending months of speculations that he would join the ruling party. Fubara, who announced his defection at a stakeholders meeting held at the Government House, Port Harcourt, based his decision on the overwhelming support President Bola Tinubu has given the state.
His defection to the APC is barely 24 hours after he visited Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, where he conferred with President Bola Tinubu. It also comes four days after 16 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, including the speaker, Martin Amaewhule, defected to the ruling party.
Speaking on his decision, Fubara said: “We can’t support President Tinubu if we don’t fully identify with him, not just the backyard support. So, we have made that decision here today (yesterday) that everyone who has followed and suffered with me, the decision this evening is that we are moving to the APC.”
The defection of the Rivers governor and that of his Osun State counterpart, Ademola Adeleke, who joined Accord Party, leaves the PDP with five governors, while the APC now has 28. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have one apiece.
Before now, there had been a political crisis in Rivers State, which was triggered by the feud between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Fubara and Wike’s face-off stemmed from their struggle for control of the political structures in Rivers.
The Fubara-Wike feud initially split the state Assembly into two factions. While 27 lawmakers led by the Speaker, Amaewhule, were loyal to Wike, a four-member faction declared support for the governor. The political crisis that rocked Rivers State led President Tinubu to declare a six months state of emergency on March 18, leading to the suspension of Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for six months.
The President, in their stead appointed a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, as the state’s administrator to oversee governance for six months, at which completion Fubara returned as governor. Fubara, who resumed office at the expiration of his six months suspension, has consistently lauded the President for his intervention in resolving the political crisis that rocked the state.
The governor said he chose to cooperate fully with Tinubu and the National Assembly, in order to prioritise peace above personal or political gains. Meanwhile, the PDP has said it has nothing against Fubara, for leaving its platform to the APC, but prayed that he does not “suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor.”
