Politics
Rivers PDP Boss Explains Guber Candidate’s Emergence …APC Suffers More Losses
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, Ambassador Desmond Akawor has explained the circumstances that led to the emergence of Amaopusenibo Siminialayi Fubara as the candidate of party for next year’s gubernatorial election in the state.
Speaking recently in his office while receiving two groups of defectors from the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ambassador Akawor said that the choice of Amaopu – Senibo Fubara was the best thing that happened to Rivers people as he (Fubara) does not have ‘boys’ nor belong to any particular group in the state.
The party chairman explained that the choice of the candidate was dictated by fairness, equity and justice to all sections of the state, adding that while it was imperative to shift power to the riverine area of the state, only the Rivers South East Senatorial District was yet to occupy the governorship position since 1999.
“In the Rivers West, Dr. Peter Odili had taken it and so Rivers West should be eliminated for fairness. For the Rivers East, Sir Celestine Omehia, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Nyesom Wike have emerged from that district, so Rivers East was also ruled out. The focus now was on Rivers South East district which comprises Ogoni (Khana, Gokhana, Tai and Eleme), Oyigbo, Opobo/Nkoro and Andoni.
“Since all the people that have emerged from Rivers West and East were from the upland part, and remember the APC had taken their governorship candidate from the riverine, we decided that our candidate must also come from the riverine part of Rivers South East Senatorial district”.
He disclosed that the issue of a successor to Chief Nyesom Wike came up on the eve of the Governor’s birthday when the elders of the state came to pay him a surprise birthday visit, explaining that the issue followed the elders’ call on the Governor to vie for the position of president of the country.
“The Elders’ Forum met in the house of Chief (Ferdinand) Anabraba and agreed to go and wish our Governor happy birthday by 12 midnight.
“We also agreed that night that the Governor had done all he needed to do in the State and that we think he is a product we can sell to the nation. So we drafted a letter to wish him happy birthday and included two clauses there, urging him to run for the presidency.
“When we got to his (Governor) house, it was already past 12 midnight. We woke him up and handed the letter over to him. He read it and saw the clause where we said he should run for president. He said you people say I should run for the presidency, let us settle home first. You people should decide who should be the governor”.
He disclosed that out of those who wanted to be governor, seven of them were at the meeting and they were told to go and choose one person from among themselves who would run for the position of governor, but they couldn’t do so.
“So what we did was that we called one of our Lawyers, former NBA Chairman, Chief OCJ Okocha to draft a form of an agreement that if at the end of the day you are not the person selected you will be willing to work with whoever will be selected, and everybody signed. As we were getting to the primary, the governor invited the Elders’ forum and said now we have reached the peak of the problem, what do we do?
“So we now asked who were the candidates that collected the forms from the riverine of South East? They were Amaopusenibo Siminialayi Fubara and Tele Ikuru, former Deputy Governor, while the upland people were Olaka Worgu, Senator Lee Maeba, Dr Pidomson and kamalu, Comissioner for finance. These were upland so automatically they were eliminated and, of course, Sim Fubara and Tele Ikuru, (who is the cousin to Secondus who was also eliminated). And it remained only two of them, Commissioner for Finance and Accountant-General. The elders then asked the two of them to go inside and decide who should go and Sim Fubara became the choice’’.
Speaking separately Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke and Chief David Briggs said they had come to introduce their brothers and colleagues who have indicated interest to leave the APC and rejoin the PDP.
Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke said as information managers, the decampees would join forces with those of them who are already in the party to provide robust platform for the PDP to disseminate information and demanded that they be provided with timely information from the party leadership.
On his part, Chief Briggs said he was bringing to the PDP, great politicians who had made the APC in the area stronger, promising that they would deploy their experience as political juggernauts towsrds strengthening the PDP..
Leading the groups of defectors who visited the PDP Secretariat to renounce their membership of the APC were a one time Commissioner in the state and former governorship aspirant on the platform of the PDP, Chief David Briggs and another one time Commissioner and former Federal Lawmaker, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke.
While the group led by Chief Briggs comprised of prominent APC members from Kalabari land, the one that was led by Chief Nwuke was made up of indigenous newspaper proprietors who were members of the APC.
The Rivers State PDP boss commended the decampees for taking the bold step, adding that they had come at the right time.
Amb. Akawor who reminded them that the PDP is a household name in the state said the party is in the DNA of every Rivers person, noting that the present administration led by Governor Nyesom Wike has achieved so much for Rivers people in terms of development even when no one gave him a chance.
Speaking separately, Hon. Nwuke and Chief Briggs said they had come to introduce their brothers and colleagues who had indicated interest to leave the APC and rejoin the PDP.
Hon. Nwuke said as information managers, the decampees would join forces with those of them who are already in the party to provide robust platform for the PDP to disseminate information and requested that they be provided with timely information from the party leadership.
On his part, Chief Briggs said he was bringing to the PDP great politicians who were the strength of APC in the area, promising that they would deploy their experience as political stalwarts towards strengthening the PDP.
By: Opaka Dokubo
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.