Politics

Rivers PDP Boss Explains Guber Candidate’s Emergence …APC Suffers More Losses

Published

4 years ago

August 29, 2022

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

Politics

LP Crisis: Ex-NWC Member Dumps Dumps Abure Faction

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

The Tide

A former National Organising Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Clement Ojukwu, has expressed regret that the several legal cases brought against the party since the 2023 general elections have impacted the party’s performance.

Mr Ojukwu, who recently returned to the interim National Working Committee led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, noted that the party had 34 elected members in the House of Representatives, eight Senators, and 80 members at the state Houses of Assembly after the 2023 general elections.

“Now we lost all of them,” he said. “I don’t think we have as many as five members in the National Assembly.”

The former national officer of the LP talked to journalists in Abuja and said he chose to join the caretaker committee led by Senator Nenadi-Usman because they are now the officially recognized leaders of the Party.

“I chose to work with the caretaker committee to help save the Labour Party, for the benefit of the party. I also want to use this chance to ask my colleagues at the national, state, and local government levels to come together and help rebuild our party.

“Another election is around the corner. We lost everything we have. They have left to other political parties. So I’ll reach out to all my friends in the other group to get together and work on making this party stronger again.

“The caretaker committee has formed a reconciliation committee. Let’s come together and talk so that we can restore the first opposition political party in Nigeria.”

Mr Ojukwu, who was part of the Julius Abure’s group, said there are no more factions in the LP.

He added, “There is a court ruling, and since it is valid, the right people are in the correct positions.”

He urged Barr Abure and others to drop the legal cases they have filed because they are not helping the party.

“Litigations are killing political parties”, he said. “They’ve seen many political parties disappear because of legal battles, and the Labor Party is losing support every day, which makes me feel sad.”

Mr Ojukwu said he did not think joining the Senator Nenadi-Usman’s NWC was a betrayal of the Abure group, describing himself as “the oxygen” of that faction.

“I’m with this group because of the verdict. But I never betrayed anybody. Rather, I was betrayed,” he added.

Politics

2027: NIGERIANS FAULT INEC ON DIGITAL MEMBERSHIP REGISTER DIRECTIVE

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

The Tide

A number of Nigerians have strongly criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its directive to all political parties in the country to submit digitalized membership register within 32 days.

It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following it’s reversed timetable, directed all political parties in the country to submit their digitalized membership registers within 32 days.

Speaking on the reversed timetable in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, respondents said the directive amounted to disqualifying opposition political parties from fielding candidates in all the elections next year.

They said if the directives by the commission is implemented, only the All Progressives Congress (APC) would participate in the elections since it started it’s digital membership registration since February, last year.

Responding, an elder statesman in Rivers State, Chief Sunnie Chukumele, said the revised timetable was okay, but the timeframe for submission of digital membership register was being made at the wrong time.

Chief Chukumele said, for the past two years, all opposition political parties have been battling various issues in court, adding that they did not have the time to embark on membership drive, talk less of digitalizing their membership registers.

“My reaction is that the only issue with this revised timetable is the timeframe given by INEC for parties to submit digitalize memberships register in all the states of the federation, while giving notice of Congresses and convention. That is not possible”, he said.

He said only the ruling APC is likely to meet up with the directive, since it began its registration since last year.

Chief Chukumele, who is also the National Coordinator of Coalition of Rivers State Leaders of Thought (CORSLOT), alleged that the directive of the electoral body may have been targeted to prevent other parties from fielding candidates for the elections next year.

“When you say all the parties should submit digitalized registers of membership in 32 days, how will that be possible to conclude it in 32 days”, he queried.

He noted that “APC used one year ago to do, so APC has one year in the kitty plus 30 days. This is highly regrettable”.

The CORSLOT national leader urged the election umpire to do away with stringent conditions that will make it hard for opposition political parties to field candidates in the elections.

Also speaking, Mr Jacob Enware from Edo State queried the rationale behind the directive, especially when some opposition political parties are still having cases in court.

In his words, ”What opposition political parties are you talking about, is Labour Party not in court or PDP that is yet to resolve their issues?

”For me, INEC should provide a level playing field for all, because aside the APC, no party can meet up this criteria.”

In his own response, Mr Nathaniel Ebere said he was not prepared to vote for anybody whether INEC provides a level playing field or not.

He alleged that his vote would not count, “so I will not waste my time”.

By: John Bibor

Politics

IT’S A LIE, G-5 GOVS DIDN’T WIN ELECTION FOR TINUBU – SOWUNMI

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

The Tide

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Convener of The Alternative, Otunba Segun Sowunmi, has expressed reservations about the political stance of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, while calling for reconciliation among key party figures.

Otunba Sowunmi made the remarks during a television interview on Saturday, when asked about the relationship between Gov. Makinde and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.

He said, “I don’t believe Seyi Makinde. Because I know them all. I’ve been in this party since it was registered. And I’ve been loyal, faithful, diligent with this party from the get-go, and I’ve never left.”

He underscored his longstanding commitment to the PDP, referencing prominent figures who had exited the party at different times: “I’ve had the grace, and the honor, and the dignity of watching even my father, Obasanjo, shed his card. As much as I love him, I didn’t leave the party”.

He added, “I’ve had the privilege of watching my beloved senior brother, Governor Gbenga Daniel, leave the party a few times. As much as I respect his vision and his ideas, I’ve never left. I’ve watched my former principal, Atiku Abubakar, leave a few times. I’ve never left.”

Otunba Sowunmi stressed that his comments were rooted in deep involvement with the party: “So when I talk about PDP, I’m not talking as an outsider, I’m talking as one of their totems, who was actually carrying them.”

He disclosed that he wrote to Makinde during the governor’s last birthday, urging reconciliation among a bloc of five governors who had formed a movement during the 2023 elections.

“At Governor Seyi Makinde’s last birthday, I wrote him a letter where I tried to say, look, you guys, the five of you, succeeded to the extent of creating a movement of your own”, he said.

He added, “And you fought very hard to make a point in the 2023 election. Although I don’t believe you won the election for the president, that’s a lie. They contributed, but I hate when people take the glory of other people’s work.”

Otunba Sowunmi warned that unresolved differences among the group could weaken the party: “You guys, you must go back to your four friends, your five friends, and you guys go and sort it out. Because not sorting it out with your five friends is going to leave the party worse off.”

He added, “But now that you’re fighting, or you’re not agreeing with yourselves, why don’t you go back to that same energy that allowed you to agree, so that you can use that energy inside to agree, and then we can lead the party.”