Fubara And I  Planned, Agreed On Rivers Local Council Election

By Adesina Soyooye

Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has put a lie to the claims that Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was not part of the Local Government Election in the State which held on August 30, 2025.

Recall that the Supreme Court of Nigeria had annulled and voided the LG Election held in October 2024, under the supervision of Fubara as Governor.

But given his suspension from office for six months on March 18, 2025, coupled with the annulment of the Election, the Sole Administrator, appointed for the State by President Bola Tinubu, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, supervised another election conducted by the newly inaugurated  Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC after the the sack of RSIEC under Fubara.

In the election, expectedly, given the strong and overwhelming support by Wike for the All Progressives Congress, APC, the Party swept the polls, winning 23 Councils, leaving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with three Councils, only.

However, neither Fubara nor his loyalists/supporters, took part in the election. In Fubara’s LGA, Opobo, which was won by the APC, it was like a desert on election day. Voter apathy reigned as it did in most other Councils.

Fubara and company’s absence on election day, triggered the strong belief that Fubara was not carried along, and so indifferent to the exercise.

But speaking Thursday night during a Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, Minister Wike put a lie to such claims. He said Fubara was carried along all through, and that the two of them met to discuss and agree  on the election.

He disclosed that on the day they agreed to meet and discuss it, the Governor wanted to come to his house, but that he told Fubara that he, Wike, would instead go to him because “you are the Governor.”

Wike also disclosed that Fubara told him in advance that he would not be available on election day due to a family engagement.  He said the Governor’s son had an engagement that day.

Wike: “This is what Nigerians should know: Governor wanted to come and see me. I sad no, you’re the Governor. I drove to the Governor’s house by I.00am.

“I, the former Governor of Rivers State drove to the Governor’s house at 1.00am. I said, ‘Your Excellency, what do we do?’ There’s nothing that was done the Governor wasn’t part of it.

“You see, even before the election, the Governor travelled. He told me he would not be around because his son had this engagement.

“People just sit somewhere, begin to talk all kinds of things they don’t know, simply because, you know, all they were expecting is: ‘oh, they’ve not settled.’ Unfortunately, where people will be collecting money is no longer there.”