Get Guardian on GoogleRivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has warned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Rainbow Coalition against divided loyalty, saying teamwork will be critical to delivering massive votes for President Bola Tinubu and other candidates in the 2027 general elections.
Siminalayi Fubara gave the charge on Thursday in Port Harcourt at the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers State, where he expressed confidence that the coalition could surpass its electoral performance in the 2023 elections if members worked together.
The governor said Rivers was capable of delivering massive votes for Tinubu, the APC governorship candidate, Rt. Hon. Kingsley Chinda, and other candidates of the coalition, but stressed that such an outcome would depend on unity and commitment among members of the campaign council.
He described the newly inaugurated council as bigger, broader and better coordinated than the structure that worked during the 2023 elections, when members mobilised support for his emergence as governor and Tinubu’s presidential victory.
“What the state is witnessing in the current political season is a repeat of the successful mobilisation done in 2022 and 2023,” Fubara said, expressing optimism that the expanded structure would produce a better result.
The governor said the inclusion of people who belonged to opposition camps during the previous elections had strengthened the new political arrangement, but cautioned that members must put aside their differences and work towards a common objective.
He urged members to embrace teamwork and sincerity of purpose, warning that the campaign could not achieve its target if political interests continued to divide the coalition.
Fubara thanked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, who coordinates Tinubu’s campaign in Rivers State, and other political leaders for their efforts in establishing the campaign council.
He said the state had moved beyond political divisions and should concentrate on its future, expressing confidence that the APC and the Rainbow Coalition would win in 2027.
The governor also appealed to party members whose names were not included in the campaign council not to feel sidelined, explaining that more appointments would be made through subcommittees and subsequent adjustments to the list.
Wike, who inaugurated the council, said members were selected based on their capacity to contribute to the campaign and deliver electoral results.
He charged them to mobilise votes for APC and Rainbow Coalition candidates contesting the presidential, governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections.
The FCT minister said the campaign structure would be extended to the grassroots through the inauguration of local government campaign councils, which he said would improve mobilisation and coverage across the state.
He urged members not to treat their appointments as ceremonial, but to demonstrate commitment through active participation in campaign activities.
The inauguration comes amid efforts by political leaders in Rivers to consolidate the alliance between the APC and parties associated with the Rainbow Coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, is coordinating Tinubu’s presidential campaign in the state, while Fubara has publicly aligned with the coalition and endorsed its political direction.
The governor’s call for teamwork and warning against double loyalty underline the challenge of managing a broad political alliance involving former rivals as the parties prepare for the elections.
By Godfrey Gabriel
