The claim that state lead representative Siminalayi Fubara may have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not troubling the PDP in Rivers State, according to the party.
Whatever choice the governor makes, according to the party’s State Chairman Robinson Ewor, “is personal.”
According to him, the state lead representative has the full legal authority to pursue any political interest he sees fit as an individual, provided that doing so serves the interests of the Rivers people as a whole, who elected him governor in the face of competing interests.
Recall that one of the terms of the peace deal Fubara was reported to have signed in June was that he should defect to the APC, even while the six-month emergency rule that was imposed on March 18 and concluded on September 18 persisted.
Ewor went on to say that the state lead representative had not told him of his desire to leave the party and that he was unaware of such a plot.
State lead representative Fubara was seen escorting the Rivers governor to Tinubu’s office on Monday alongside Senator Hope Uzodimma, the state lead representative of Imo State and the chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, to validate the concern over the governor’s potential defection.
The governor’s failure to acknowledge the PDP’s contribution to restoring democracy, in contrast to the president’s declaration of emergency in the state during his (Fubara’s) statewide broadcast on Friday, September 18, when he returned to office after a six-month absence, was also noteworthy.
Recall that several well-known Nigerians spoke out against the proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State, calling it blatantly “unconstitutional,” and that at least 11 PDP governors had taken the APC government to court to have the ruling overturned.
