The crisis within the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has escalated following a public declaration by a factional chairman, Dr Robinson Ewor, in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Ewor said his decision to align with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was aimed at ensuring victory for Tinubu in the next general election.
He accused Governor Siminalayi Fubara of misleading members of the party by claiming he could wrest political control of the state from Wike, only to later abandon the PDP for the APC.
The former lawmaker recalled that late last year, he had disclosed that he heard through informal channels that the governor was planning to leave the PDP and defect to the APC, stressing that “wherever the governor goes to I will not follow him”.
According to him: “The mandate he (Fubara) is holding was given to him by Rivers people, and all his actions and inactions affect all those whose mandate he is holding. Therefore, it is incumbent on him at this material time to fully disclose to Rivers people all the agreements he entered into in a peace deal brokered by the president before the Emergency Rule was lifted. There was a disagreement between the governor and the members of the State House of Assembly. This disagreement led to the bombing of the hallowed Chambers of the Assembly. The events of this disagreement and bombing of the Assembly led to a peace pact brokered by the President.
“While this disagreement was on, a lot of us were deceived into believing so many things that were not true. In other words, the governor deceived us. Rather than give us the true picture of things, we were fed with propaganda and lies, making us to believe that the governor would wrest political control from Wike.
“During the period of the Emergency Rule, another round of peace pact was brokered by the President. Unlike the previous peace pact, where an eight point agenda was signed, the current peace pact was not documented and Rivers people were not in the know. Again, the peace agreement between the Governor, the FCT Minister and the State House of Assembly collapsed. This led to the defection of the Governor from the PDP to the APC in December 2025. As a political party, we challenged the Declaration of the State of Emergency in the Supreme Court to protect our mandate. Today, the Governor has taken our mandate to the All Progressive Congress, which is not proper.
“Rather than follow the path of peace to ensure smooth running of government, the Governor has been boasting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not only force the State House of Assembly members to pass the budget, the President will also force Wike to work for his (Fubara) reelection”.
Ewor further stated that Governor Fubara was fully aware of the party’s 2025 convention held in Ibadan, adding that all preparations and activities leading to the convention took place under the governor’s supervision.
He said the Rivers State delegation to the convention was led by him and fully participated, even though the governor did not attend for reasons unknown to him.
He noted that it was during the Ibadan convention that the Rivers State Executive Committee of the party was dissolved.
He added: “To me, asking us to go to Ibadan when he knew he won’t be attending the convention amounts to double standard, which is not an attribute of a honourable man. Most importantly, after the Governor had boasted that he would take over the PDP structure in the State, could it be that it was when he saw that PDP had become a no-go-area, that he quickly defected to APC? We need explanations.
“He also used the occasion to solicit for their continued support. During his speeches in the different Local Government Areas, the FCT Minister made some remarks about our Governor and he has been very consistent about it i.e. keeping to agreements etc. the FCT Minister said, before the Emergency Rule in Rivers State was lifted, the Governor agreed not to run for a second term, to reinstate Ohna Sergeant Awuse as Chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers, drop Tammy Danagogo as Secretary to the State Government, and Edison Ehie as Chief of Staff etc. But the Governor has refused to keep all the terms of the agreement.”
