Fubara Vs Wike:  Governor Weighs Options

By Chidi Levi

… His Dilemma

Though there is now a semblance of amity between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his godfather, immediate predecessor and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, impeccable Port Harcourt and Abuja sources have told this magazine that behind the facade lies high wire manoeuvres by the camps of the estranged godson and godfather to gain durable political mileage.

Said one of the sources:  “Though President Bola Tinubu’s intervention which led to a peace accord between godfather and godson largely thawed the face-off between the two,  I can tell you that,  Wike and Gov. Fubara are still at dagger drawn.

“Wike imposed Fubara on Rivers people as Governor with the hope of playing the role of a powerful godfather, not just to him but in Rivers’ politics, akin to the influence and hold Tinubu has been wielding in Lagos politics since 1999, but the Governor, egged on by powerful forces in the State would have non of that.

“Fubara is resolute in being his own man, governing Rivers his way rather than being dictated to, or tied to the apron string of a godfather dishing out orders from Abuja.

“Though Fubara has started implementing most of the agreements contained in the peace accord, he is neither ready to be subservient to anyone nor to be rendered a king without a crown”

This magazine can, however, authoritatively report that while the Governor weighs several options as to how to consolidate and solidify his position as Governor amidst a hostile House of Assembly peopled by the All Progressives Congress,  APC breathing down his neck and an implacable godfather insistence on being king of the manor in Rivers,  he also faces a serious dilemma.

Fubara who was elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  this magazine has been informed,  is under intense pressure from Aso Rock to defect to the APC as a permanent solution to the spat between him and Wike as the latter is now more of APC chieftain than PDP;  controls both APC and PDP structures in Rivers state and allegedly on the cusp of formally dumping the PDP for APC.

However,  among the options the embattled governor is weighing are:

*Remain in the PDP,  team up with former governor Chibuike Amaechi and all anti-Wike elements in both PDP and APC to hijack the structure of Rivers PDP.

*Defect to the APC,  insist on controlling the leadership and structure of the party in Rivers as a sitting Governor

*Cause deep divisions in both PDP and APC and then defect to the Labour Party while tenaciously pursuing in court the ouster of the 27 hostile state lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC with the hope that if and when the court declares their seats vacant and new elections ordered he would be able to get his loyalists elected into the House.

However, with the structures of the state’s PDP and APC currently firmly in Wike’s kitty, Governor Fubara is in dilemma as to the likely immediate consequences of an all-out push to wrestle either the structure of PDP or APC from the former governor.

“The truth is that the belligerent House of Assembly members who are all Wike loyalists will waste no time in impeaching Fubara if he dares openly and brazenly challenges the Minister’s hold on PDP and APC, and the Presidency will be on his (Wike) side. These are the immediate consequences.

“The long-term consequence is that,  if he survives Wike and the House and finishes a term,  he will be given the Ambode treatment- that’s denied second term ticket of both parties”,  another source close to Wike and the Governor told the Magazine.

Meanwhile,  an aide of the Governor who pleaded anonymity “because of the current volatile relationship between oga and Minister(Wike)”,  told The Source that “crossing the Supreme Court hurdle and delivering good governance to Rivers people without noise and unnecessary jamboree are uppermost in His Excellency’s mind right now and not political permutations, but I can confirm to you that, when the time is ripe, one way or another, a decision will certainly be taken for the good of Rivers s state and its people”.