Rivers: Wike Weighs Option, Strategies for 2027

By Akinjide Aina, Abuja Bureau Chief

As the political crisis in Rivers state rages unabated, sources close to the political camp of Federal Capital Territory Minister and the immediate past Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, have told The Source (Magazine) that the ex- governor, with 2027 elections in mind, is determined to maintain a firm hold on Rivers politics notwithstanding the current spat between him and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara whom he helped into office.

Governor Fubara has not only been asserting his powers, but has remained defiant, systematically demobilizing the political structures of his immediate predecessor.

To achieve his aims, the Minister, the magazine was informed, is weighing two options:

1.To fully stamp his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, assert his influence and dominance of the party not only in Rivers but in the South-south Zone as the highest ranking member of the party from the state in the Tinubu government.

2. To formally divorce the PDP, make a grand entry into the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, seize the structure of the Party in Rivers and install himself its(APC) leader in the state.

If the former Governor decides to choose the first option, the implication for Governor Fubra, it was gathered, will be that, aided by a pliant National leadership of the PDP, allegedly, sympathetic to Wike, he will completely be divested of the party’s structures in Rivers and the same handed to the Minister.

With him as the leader of the party and the structures firmly in his kitty, Wike, sources close to his camp claim, will not only nominate the PDP governorship flag bearer for the State in 2027, but will assiduously work, employing federal might, to defeat Fubara.

On the other hand, this Magazine gather that should Wike opt for the second option, the National leadership of the APC which government he serves at the centre, will readily and enthusiastically yield Rivers APC structures to him and hand him a blank cheque to do whatever he wants with the party in the state.

Should this happen, a former Governor of the state and the immediate past Minister for Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, who is currently the leader of the APC in the State, will be completely swept out of relevance and contention in the affairs of the party.

Also, Wike will be in a position to produce the 2027 governorship candidate of the party for Rivers and employ federal might, not as a PDP member serving in an APC Federal Government, but as an APC leader serving in an APC-led Central Government, to dethrone Governor Fubara.

Asked when the Minister was likely to take a definite decision, one of the sources refused to make a disclosure, simply telling the magazine, “just keep your fingers crossed, our opponents are toddlers in politics and we will teach them how the game is played. They will learn the hard way.”