The suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, returned to Port Harcourt last week Friday, after a six-month forced holiday. I watched in amazement as political jobbers and hangers-on swarmed him immediately he alighted from the private jet that brought him to the Port Harcourt International Airport. A day earlier, thousands of his supporters had taken over the Government House, ostensibly to welcome him back to work, while several others kept vigil at the Salvation Ministries Headquarters in Port Harcourt, with the hope that he would be there to give thanks to God for his return to the Government House. However, they all went home disappointed, as Fubara did not show up in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
What came to my mind after Friday’s airport fanfare was the turmoil that would be going through the mind of Fubara at that moment. Here was a man that was deserted just few days back, when the emergency rule was imposed on the state by President Bola Tinubu. Today, the red carpet is laid for his return. Although loved by his people that elected him to power, Fubara took on a principality that was far greater and deadlier than him. Although he has the political power as the sitting Governor, he could not effectively deploy it when it mattered the most, and he got his fingers burned. Many of those that were edging him on to dare his predecessor were nowhere to be found when the battle became intense. He was left alone to bear the brunt of the needless war he dabbled into. Now that he is back in power, he should have learnt one or two political lessons.
For a man that was hand-picked by a political godfather, Nyesom Wike, to become the Governor of Rivers State, along with all other office holders in the state, he should be wiser about the type of politics we play in Nigeria. His cabinet members, including his Chief of Staff and Chief Security Officer, were handpicked by the man with the ‘’political structure’’- Wike. Yet, it was the same man that Fubara wanted to fight.
In Politics, there is nothing wrong for a political godson to fight his godfather and become the principal political actor in the state. In the same Rivers State, Wike was a political godson to Rotimi Amaechi until he (Amaechi) was ‘’run out’’ of town by Wike.
In Fabura’s case, he should have had a rethink when he could not win many of the state’s political actors to his side. In politics, you don’t start to ask questions until you have all the levelers of power in your hands. Many of his commissioners and majority of the lawmakers were loyal to Wike. Even with the state purse at his disposal, Fubara could not get many of those working with him to his corner. That was when he should have backed down or resigned to protect his name and sanity.
When the state was thrown into turmoil, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a man desperate to capture the state ahead of the 2027 electoral battle, had no option but to declare a state of emergency which suspended Fubara, his Deputy, and the House of Assembly for six months.
However, on Wednesday last week, Tinubu lifted the suspension and directed the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retired) to exit the scene. He hinged his decision on the fact that intelligence information available to him shows that there is a groundswell of understanding, a robust readiness, and potent enthusiasm on the part of all stakeholders in Rivers State for an immediate return to democratic governance.
Two days before Tinubu imposed the emergency rule, an explosion had rocked a section of the Trans-Niger Pipeline in the Bodo Community of Gonna Local Government Area in Rivers State. The following day, another explosion severed a pipeline manifold in the Omwawriwa axis of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of the State.
The President was alarmed at the quick deterioration of the situation on ground, as militants, allegedly acting on the instructions of Fubara, were fingered as the brains behind the vandalization of the nation’s oil wealth. The attacks occurred amid desperate efforts by the Tinubu administration to increase Nigeria’s lagging crude oil output, curb leaks, and earn much-needed revenue to run his administration. To forestall a complete breakdown of law and order and protect vital oil installations essential to uninterrupted production and the economy, Tinubu, on March 18, 2025, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, and suspended all democratic institutions.
Most Nigerians believed that the President does not have the power to suspend a democratically elected Governor. In fact, 11 Governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) challenged the President’s action at the Supreme Court, but the case was never heard by the apex court for the six-month period that the emergency rule lasted. In spite of the fact that Fubara is back on his seat, many lawyers are still calling on the Justices at the Supreme Court to hear the matter and make a definite pronouncement on the case.
PDP’s National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), said that the case was deliberately framed to test the Constitution, and not to defend Fubara. “We will still wait until we are given a date because that case is not about Fubara; that case is purely about the interpretation of the constitution of Nigeria. You know Fubara is not a party in the case, Rivers State was not made a party in that case, so we were very careful when we filed that matter because we know this kind of thing can happen. So, they cannot because of the resumption of Fubara now say the matter is spent, No! If they try to raise that, we will be very forceful about it. The case has to be heard because of the future’s sake.” Good submission by the PDP.
Now that Fubara is back, many are of the view that he has been cut to size and his powers greatly curtailed, going by the three conditions given to him by the power that be in Abuja. These include Fubara not seeking re-election in 2027; that Wike and his loyalists would be allowed to nominate all the local government chairpersons across the 23 local governments in the state, and that Fubara will pay all outstanding allowances and entitlements owed to the 27 lawmakers loyal to the FCT Minister and on the premise of the above three conditions, the lawmakers will not initiate any impeachment proceedings against the Governor when reinstated by Tinubu.
Already, a major part of the agreement has been implemented by the Sole Administrator, as elections have been conducted into local government councils with Wike loyalists now in charge. If indeed he agreed to those conditions, Fubara should simply return to the government house to quietly administer the state for the remaining period of his mandate. He and the people of Rivers are the major losers in the war of attrition between a godfather and his godson.
The ultimate winner, as expected, is President Tinubu, who has, from the very first day in office, set his eyes on how to clinch the state come 2027. Now, local government election has been conducted and the APC won 20 out of the 23 seats at the local councils. While justifying his intervention in a statement last week, the President declared: “It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation.” For an administration striving to revive the economy from a comatose state, Tinubu was unwilling to risk anything that could cripple its mainstay – oil. His greatest concern was that critical national assets in Rivers, particularly oil pipelines, had come under repeated vandalism amid the heightened political tension. The emergency declaration not only quelled the unrest, but also brought swift restoration of order. Within days, the vandalised pipelines were repaired and reactivated, averting what could have become a deeper economic crisis.
Beyond economic stability, the President also gained significant political ground in Rivers state, which was previously dominated by the opposition. Before the emergency declaration, the People’s Democratic Party held sway in the state. But as the crisis deepened, some loyalists of the Governor defected to the All People’s Party ahead of the October 5, 2024, local government election, which they won. The rescheduled poll, conducted by the state’s sole Administrator on August 30, 2025 further cemented APC’s foothold, as its candidates emerged victorious in 20 out of 23 local government areas. The outcome not only marked the APC’s long-sought grassroots penetration in Rivers state, but positioned the party strongly ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Another clear winner is the FCT Minister and godfather of Rivers politics – Wike. Since December 2023, Wike had been locked in a fierce struggle to reclaim political control of Rivers state. His loyalists had lost out in key positions – commissioners, local government chairmen, and other strategic offices – leaving him politically stranded. The Supreme Court judgment that restored the Amaewhule-led Assembly gave Wike fresh leverage to tighten his grip on Fubara. Determined to unseat him, Wike pressed hard until Tinubu’s emergency rule intervened, halting the showdown. In one of his interviews, Wike even admitted that the President’s intervention had spared Fubara from the “sledgehammer”. During the political lull that followed, the President reconciled the two rivals for a second time. Since then, Wike has bounced back to political relevance, successfully repositioning his loyalists in local government offices across the state.
The type of politics we play in Nigeria, where all institutions are weakened but strong individuals emerge does not augur well for development. Rivers State is now in the hands of buccaneers who can do whatever they like and get away with it. We all know that it is all about the oil money in Rivers State and it has now been effectively captured. I wish Fubara well as he navigates the web of political deceit that has been woven around him.
See you next week.
