BEN AHANONU
The dramatic and abrupt announcement by Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara withdrawing from the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary marks the definitive collapse of an ill-advised political mutiny.
I am deeply disgusted and utterly disappointed by Fubara’s actions. He raised the hopes of millions of Nigerians who desperately wanted the overbearing Nyesom Wike out of the political picture. Many genuinely believed Fubara meant business and that Wike had finally met his match. Unfortunately, that was nothing but a pipe dream. Fubara simply lacks the capacity, political clout, and ruthless grit required to neutralize an opponent as formidable as Wike. He has proven to be nothing more than a gathering cloud that threatens heavy rain, only to evaporate without dropping a single drop.
The question many concerned Nigerians are asking is: why did Fubara start a battle that he knew from the beginning he could neither finish nor win?
For months, Fubara attempted to project the image of a courageous David taking on the Goliath of Rivers politics—his estranged godfather and Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike. However, by packing up his political tent and retreating at the eleventh hour, Fubara has exposed the stark reality of his lightweight political stature. In the brutal, unforgiving arena of Nigerian power dynamics, the governor has unfortunately earned the unflattering moniker of a political “vegetable”—a leader who possesses the legal title of power but lacks the structural spine to wield it.
The fundamental error in Fubara’s strategy lies in the supreme arrogance of launching an all-out political war without a sustainable army or baseline architecture. Armed only with state resources and a fleeting wave of populist sentiment, the governor mistakenly believed that temporary public applause could replace deeply entrenched political machinery. His recent, desperate defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC was widely viewed by analysts as a chaotic, panic-driven maneuver rather than a calculated chess move. Wike’s scathing assessment that Fubara joined the APC too late and entirely devoid of political structures has now been proven completely accurate.
The structural deficiencies of the governor’s camp became painfully obvious during the ruling party’s internal screening processes. While Fubara celebrated a hollow personal clearance to run, the APC national leadership methodically dismantled his support system by disqualifying his key loyalists from the legislative primaries. Left completely isolated within a party apparatus that remains fiercely loyal to Wike’s extensive network, Fubara found himself holding a governorship ticket but commanding absolutely no foot soldiers. His retreat, under the pious guise of making a “sacrifice” for the peace and unity of Rivers State, is a transparent attempt to save face from an impending, humiliating defeat at the ballot box.
Ultimately, this failed insurrection leaves behind a legacy of deep betrayal and profound political lessons. By pulling out of the contest, Fubara has abandoned the lawmakers, commissioners, and local supporters who risked their own political survival to back his short-lived rebellion against the Wike hegemony.
His downfall serves as a stern warning to political neophytes across Nigeria: state power is not merely a product of legal occupation, but a complex game of institutional alliances, structural loyalty, and strategic endurance. Fubara started an expensive, destabilizing battle that he lacked the grit, structure, and foresight to finish. In doing so, he has left his allies stranded and cemented his place as a cautionary tale in modern Nigerian political history.
Wike has won yet again. It will now take nothing short of divine intervention to deliver Rivers State from his intoxicating stranglehold, as everyone else appears cowered, subdued, and utterly defeated.
Prince Ben AHANONU
SPOKESPERSON
ALAIGBO POLITICAL WATCHDOG