“I Don’t Know Who The Leader Of PDP In Rivers State Is” – Gov. Fubara

By Adesina Soyooye

Governor of Rivers  State, Siminalayi Fubara, sensationally declared Monday night that he does not know who the Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State is.

Fubara is a member of the PDP on whose ticket he became the Governor of the State.

According to the Constitution of the Party, whoever is the Governor in a PDP State automatically becomes the Leader of the Party in the State.

But that has not been the lot of Fubara since May 29, 2023, when he became the Governor. That position is solidly occupied by his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and Fubara’s estranged political godfather.

The Leader of the Party controls the structure and that   has been the root cause of the crisis between Wike and Fubara. It was Wike who drew  attention to it when his problems with Fubara first became public.

He said he didn’t want anybody to tamper with his structure.

Those who know Fubara insist that the structure was not the problem as he had never struggled over it with Wike. The problem, they insist, began when Fubara dared appoint a Commissioner on his own without clearance from Wike.

Now, Fubara’s case is worsened by the position of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the Party which members seem to be totally pro-Wike. They are more comfortable with the structures in Wike’s hands.

However, the PDP Governors Forum led by Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, a couple of weeks ago, endorsed Fubara as the Leader of the PDP in Rivers State. The Forum drew the attention of the  NWC to the anomaly where somebody else is the Leader, instead of the Governor.

That, however, earned the Governors the a rebuke and a threat. Wike sent them a warning to keep off the affairs of the PDP, Rivers State, or he would set fire on their own States.

On Monday, October 7, in the wake of the mayhem visited on the State over the 5th October Local Government Election held in State, Chief Bode George, a Chieftain of the PDP, emphasised that Governor Fubara, not Minister Wike, is the Leader of the Party in the State. Chief George declared so when he spoke on Channels Television.

However, a twist was added when Fubara, who spoke on the same TV Channel was asked who the Leader of the PDP in the State is. Without blinking an eye, the Governor responded: “I don’t know who the Leader of the PDP in the State is.”

Recall that all those who contested the Local Government Elections under a little known Action Peoples Party, APP, are Fubara’s loyalists who he advised to move into the Party and contest.

They all did. They all won, Chairmanship, Councillorship, except in Etche LGA, where the candidate of the AC won the Chairmanship position.