By Ify Okoli
Gov. Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State may have walked into one of the biggest
political traps of his career without fully realising it.
Fresh revelations from insiders within the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) now suggest that the Rivers governor lost the trust and
support of President Bola Tinubu after allegedly failing to keep to a peace
arrangement reached during the long-running political crisis in Rivers State.
According to party sources who spoke to Punch, the governor’s
relationship with the Presidency reportedly went downhill after he resumed
political battles with his former political godfather and predecessor, Nyesom
Wike, despite earlier agreements meant to end the bitter feud between both
camps.
One senior member of the APC National Working Committee, who
asked not to be named, claimed the Presidency had already decided who controls
the political machinery in Rivers long before Fubara attempted to settle into
the ruling party.
The source said Fubara’s move into the APC was viewed in
some quarters as a calculated attempt to build enough political strength for a
second-term ambition without depending on Wike. But party leaders, according to
the insider, already understood where President Tinubu stood on the matter.
That, the official claimed, explains why there was no
fanfare, celebration or formal public welcome after Fubara joined the party.
“The signs were already clear,” the party chieftain
reportedly said. “The President handed Rivers politics to Wike, and everyone
within the leadership knew it.”
The source further disclosed that Tinubu repeatedly stepped
in to save Fubara during earlier impeachment threats. On each occasion, the
governor was allegedly advised to stop fighting over party control and concentrate
on governing the state.
According to the insider, one of the major conditions used
to calm the crisis at the time was that Fubara would not seek a second term in
office. The governor was said to have accepted the arrangement as part of the
peace deal.
The APC official claimed this was the reason Wike often
publicly repeats the phrase, “Agreement is agreement.”
However, after returning to Port Harcourt, the Rivers
governor was allegedly encouraged by political associates to resist Wike’s
influence and assert himself as the true leader of the state’s political
structure.
That decision, sources said, reportedly worsened tensions
and weakened whatever goodwill remained between him and the Presidency.
The party insider also revealed that APC leaders could not
openly support Fubara’s second-term ambition because doing so would directly
contradict the earlier understanding allegedly reached among all parties
involved.
According to the source, several influential figures within
the APC had quietly warned the governor that both the Presidency and the
Nigeria Governors’ Forum were not backing his political plans.
Despite that warning, Fubara reportedly still appeared
before the APC governorship screening committee in Abuja after initially
informing some party officials he would not attend.
Another striking claim from the source was that the governor
had almost no influence over the APC structures handling the screening of
aspirants for the Rivers State House of Assembly and National Assembly
elections.
The insider alleged that all candidates linked to Fubara
were screened out, while the political machinery organising the party primaries
remained firmly under Wike’s control.
According to the official, the message from the party
hierarchy was unmistakable: Rivers politics still belongs to Wike.
The source further claimed that Fubara was never actually
cleared by the APC screening committee to contest, contrary to suggestions that
he voluntarily stepped away from the race.
“What happened was simple,” the source said. “He was
disqualified. Leaving the race afterwards was only a way to save face.”
A close associate of the FCT minister also backed the claim,
insisting that the APC merely acted in line with the original peace agreement
reached during the Rivers crisis.
The ally argued that the governor would not have survived
impeachment battles without the intervention of both Tinubu and Wike, adding
that honouring the agreement was not political cruelty but political
discipline.
For now, the political atmosphere in Rivers remains tense,
with growing signs that the battle for control of the oil-rich state is far
from over.
Post a Comment