Umbrella in tatters: Beyond PDP BoT’s visit to Fubara, Rivers

The recent visit by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has been deemed as a panic measure to salvage the party’s stake in the heated Rivers’ politics. But stakeholders said there should be a lot more from the ‘August visitors’ than just aiming to keep the embattled party in power, FCT minister Nyesom Wike[/captioreports.

The Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently visited Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State in a manner that opened another chapter in the political crisis in Rivers State.

The visit led by the Chairman of the Board, Alphonsus Wabara, was the first since the crisis between Fubara and his erstwhile godfather and Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, started last year.

The visit was on the heels of rumours that embattled Fubara was at the verge of joining another party, and the divided PDP more endangered in the state.

Besides, the visit gave the party’s advisory council the opportunity to feel the pulse of the governor, who inherited 32 PDP-member lawmakers at inception, but could only account for five currently. The other 27 have parted ways with Fubara and the PDP.

It will be recalled that Fubara has been locked in bitter rivalry with Wike over the control of party structure in Rivers State. An alleged congress that returned only those loyal to the former governor (Wike) and against the incumbent is at the centre of the conflict.

The PDP, it was gathered, had always regarded its governor as leader of the party in the state, and as such handed over the structures of the party to run and control. This has, however, not happened in the case of Fubara as the Minister allegedly holds firmly the lever of control. The party has also not done much to address the perceived anomaly.

Fubara, who came into office 15 months ago, and apparently with a determination to change the narratives, has since been mired in the contention of how to rescue the structure from Wike and in the long run control his administration.

Meanwhile, Wike has leveraged the party’s goodwill to expand his support base in the state. He was recently said to have inherited the structure of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) formerly controlled by Senator Magnus Abe since he (Abe) in January this year, rejoined the All Progressives Congress (APC) and reconciled with him. Both men had agreed to work together to reclaim the state for President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

There were rumours also about an ongoing political romance between Wike and the Labour Party (LP) in the state. The rumours became rife after the party’s 2023 governorship candidate, Beatrice Itubo was seen posing in a picture with Wike and Abe at the Abuja residence of the FCT Minister.

Although Fubara had in the past 15 months waded through the obstacles in his way to governance in the state, he had done this with little or no support from the national and state leaderships of the party.

In June this year, he had cried out and criticised the party for failing the state, expressing his displeasure over its silence on his conflict with the Wike. He had stated that the state would now defend its democracy independently.

Fubara’s frustrations with the PDP were compounded by the attitude of the state chapter, which has continued to play the card of the national headquarters. The state party leadership does not attend functions that are organised by the governor and vice versa. This is seen as absurd given that when the current FCT Minister was governor, his party executives attended all his functions.

Although the governor was said to have remained calm and calculative, part of his challenges, however, has been where to pitch his tent as the October 5 local government election draws near in the state.

But while in his dilemma, subtle moves reportedly began to woo him to ditch the PDP and join other political parties, where he could be valued and appreciated, especially with the organic support he has mustered in the state.

Close watchers had mentioned the Action People’s Party (APP) among the opposition political parties that have knocked on the doors of the governor for possible membership and linking the attack on its newly built secretariat in Rivers State recently as part of the move to discourage it from accepting the governor into her fold. APP’s profile in the state is said to be rising by the day

Political pundits stated that it was in apparent response to the developing scenarios that Wabara last week led other members of the PDP’s BoT on a visit to the governor.

The visit, which many have described as a panicky courtesy visit, saw Wabara assuring the governor that the party would seek constitutional resolution on the political crisis tearing its membership in the state

The visit was the first time the advisory organ of PDP is paying and speaking with the governor since the political impasse between him and the Minister started in October 2023.

Wabara, who held long discussions with the governor and stalwarts of his camp, remarked that the PDP was scared of losing Rivers State, warning that “if PDP loses Rivers State, the future of Nigeria will be lost with no abiding hope”.

He noted that the governor had been patient with the inactivity of the party leadership while the crisis persists, assuring that something would be done to bring the matter to an end .

The PDP Governors forum was also not left out in the concerns of losing Rivers State and therefore, swiftly restated their support for governor Fubara at their just-concluded meeting in Jalingo, Taraba State, at the weekend.

The governors assured of their readiness to engage the NWC of the party to revisit the congresses in the state with a view of correcting the anomaly while insisting that Fubara must be allowed to take his rightful position in the party in the state. They had expressed similar sentiments when they met in Enugu a month ago.

But are the assurances from the BOT and governors of the party anything to rely on to continue with the party? Is the governor ready to jettison the PDP and seek protection on another platform? Will leaving the PDP add anything to his political career? There are arguments that continuing with the PDP, allegedly still in the firm grip of Wike, may be an end to his political career.

A lawyer and political analyst, Dr Chukwuma Chinwo, however, explained that the governor was free to move to any other party of choice, stressing that he is protected by the constitution.

Chinwo said that Section 109 (1) (g) of the constitution, which deals with declaring the seat of lawmakers who defect from the parties that elected them to another party vacant, is not binding on the governors, deputy governors and vice presidents.

He said: “The constitution holds nothing against them, they can defect to any part of their choice, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar defected in 2006 and the supreme held that the provision deals with only those in the legislature, and several governors like former Governors David Umahi and Ben Ayade all defected, so that is not an issue”

Chinwo noted that it was strange that the PDP leadership is “acting the way they are acting knowing that all over the world, structures of the party are handed over to the governor of the State because he is the leader of the party.”

He, however, advised Fubara to take a decision as soon as possible to enable his followers to know where they stand and prepare for the forthcoming local government poll.

Also, the former spokesman of PDP in the State now Commissioner for Environment, Tambari Sydney Gbara, revealed that some political parties are wooing the governor to join them.

Gbara said the intensified lobbying is not unconnected with Fubara’s leadership qualities, which has garnered massive organic support from the people. He told The Guardian that the governor is a very ‘big asset’ in the political sector at the moment because of his approach to solving issues, declaring that as far as the governor was concerned, the contentious congress that triggered the crises was null and void.

He urged the NWC of the PDP to hand over the structure of the party to the governor, threatening that the members may be pushed to seek fortunes on another platform.

He said: “It is a tradition that the state governors inherit the party structures, so if the NWC of PDP has to work with the governor and want Rivers to be a PDP state, they must hand over the structure to the governor, else we the members will seek our future and destiny in another platform”.

The State Chairman of APP, Sunny Wokekoro, however, taunted the PDP BoT, stressing that it decided to visit the governor for fear of losing him to another party.

He stated that the party was best positioned to capture the governor should he decide to leave the PDP, stressing that the coming local government election was a litmus test for the party.

A former Media Adviser to Wike, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, said Governor Fubara is very calculative and knows what he is doing. He explained that at the moment, the governor is still in PDP and watching the actions of the party’s leadership. He, however, admonished the Governor’s followers to be firm with him, assuring that they would surely win the battle.

But the APC-led Tony Okocha, alleged that Fubara’s government is a sham, adding that the governor was not prepared to govern the state. Okocha pointed out that the crisis in the state was scaring investors away and slowing development, adding that the party would not fold its hands and watch the governor drag the state to the mud.

All eyes are now on the governor to know his next move. Whatever he does before the October local government election will determine his fate in 2027. He is already ruling without a party structure and a factionalised State Assembly. It may seem that he would go for a total grip of the local governments using the election, despite the stiff opposition from the APC to consolidate his stay in power.