“Fubara Weak, Can’t Take Charge, May Face Disciplinary Action, Bauchi Gov Too” – PDP

By Adesina Soyooye

“In Fubara, the more you look, the less you see. He is incapable of rallying his colleague-Governors. He is incapable of rallying members of the NWC.”

The Peoples Democratic Party has said that Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, is incapable of being in charge.

The Party, also, accused Fubara of being the architect of his problems. The PDP said it was Fubara who, willingly, relinquished his rights to his predecessor, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike.

The PDP also accuses the Governor of indulging in anti-party activities by supporting and sponsoring the candidates of the Action Peoples Party, APP, in the October Local Government Election. The APP, a hitherto unknown party in the State won 22 of the Local Government Areas in the State.

And, for daring to attend the swearing-in of the victorious APP Chairman in solidarity with Fubara, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who is, also, Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, will also face disciplinary action.

Speaking to Tribune Online on Sunday, the factional Acting National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Ibrahim Abdulahi, said the Party from the beginning, gave Fubara the opportunity to take charge of the Party structures in the State, but that he always rejected and referred the Party to the FCT Minister, Wike.

For instance, he said, when the Party asked him to nominate the replacement for the State Chairman of the PDP, he refused to do so, and asked them to go to Wike to nominate. He said Fubara said he would be comfortable with anybody Wike nominated.

He disclosed that because Fubara, unlike other State Governors, refused to take charge, the Party didn’t know what else to do with him. He incapable of taking charge,

Abdulahi: “It’s a very, very long story that we will not be able to make sense of now. The kind of opportunity given to Fubara by this party is the sort that you never imagine exist from any political party to any of its members, not a governor, not a president.

“It is the sort that you would not believe any member will enjoy, any person no matter his status, whether in former president, because if I start now talking, I’ll dig out what we have been keeping in the cooler, the opportunities, the chances, the repeated chances given to this governor for him to take the leadership and take control of the structure.

“He was the first person that came to meet this NWC when they requested for the replacement of the state’s chairman of the PDP. He said ‘no no no no, nobody should call him that they should call oga in Abuja, let oga give the person, anyone oga gives he is comfortable.’

“This was the beginning of the whole of this problem. He was the one who said he cannot take decisions when Nyesom Wike is still alive. That was before the relationship went sour. So, at what point did you now stop recognizing him as your boss, that you start taking all of those decisions?

“See, why we don’t need to delve too much into the back and forth of a River State, what is important is that at the point that we have reached now, the summary of it all is that a governor with a state like Rivers, it was the same state Wike occupied that he was able to give PDP the required opposition it confronted the Buhari-led federal government for eight years.

“Fubara is sitting on that same saddle now and yet, cannot be able to rally his colleagues, governors behind him. He cannot be able to hold the National Working Committee to identify with him just because his predecessor is a Minister in Abuja.

“All of us, we thought he was worthy of the attention, but the more you look the less you understand. You can’t be crying like a baby all the time. You cannot provide leadership, fight it out.

“Do you think all the governors are comfortable? Why are they in charge of their respective state except him? Something is missing about this guy. So, please, at the risk of sounding immodest, we have done the best we can do for Fubara.

“We are not supporting Wike. I have been critical of Wike, you know. Even recently, I have said that nobody can hold PDP to ransom. We are not under anybody’s pocket. It’s on record. So, I’ve said all these sort of things I would say. If I was taking a naira from Wike, I couldn’t have gone on air to say all of these things.”

And for sponsoring APP Candidates for the LGA Election, Abdulahi said Fubara is guilty of anti-party activities and may face disciplinary action.

His words: “That is a clear anti-party on the part of the Governor and we will wait for him with that himself. The Governor that went to identify with him during the inauguration of the elected officials himself, the Chairman of the Governors  Forum will be accused of anti-party.

“And this is why we are always careful to, you know, apply the sledgehammer on the heads of all of those persons accused of identifying with this thing called anti-party. Because you would soon realize that you have finished all the members of the party and you are leaving nobody behind.

“Everybody has one action or the other that can constitute what is anti-party in the face of law.

“So because he went there, they were inaugurated, none of them was PDP Local Government Chairman, none, the 21 of them. But the Chairman of the PDP Forum went there, gave his blessing for a sitting PDP Governor to inaugurate the opposition party and then they were all joyful and in festive mood. How will you now say you are serving PDP with this action alone?”

The result of Fubara backing APP is that PDP may likely lose Rivers State to APP. Said he:

“It’s a strong possibility. But if that happens, you can be sure we’ll retrieve our state in 2027. It’s just a question of time. It will be unfortunate if that happens, but from the way this whole thing is looking, we might get to that level.”

However, not a few people say that the PDP has already lost its soul and would lose Rivers State sooner than later if the crisis rocking the Party is not quickly resolved.