The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday described the defection of Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as “pitiful,” condemning what it called a self-inflicted political choice that undermines democratic institutions. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the PDP accused powerful individuals of leveraging federal machinery to crush opponents, a pattern it says the Rivers crisis has laid bare.
Fubara on Tuesday formally announced his defection at a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House, Port Harcourt, a day after meeting President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The governor said he and his loyalists decided to join the APC in order to “fully identify” with President Tinubu, insisting they could not continue offering what he called “backyard support.”
“We can’t support the President if we don’t fully identify with him,” Fubara declared, adding that the PDP failed to provide the protection he expected during the prolonged political crisis in Rivers State.
The move follows months of political turmoil in the state, which escalated earlier in March when President Tinubu declared a state of emergency, suspending Fubara, his deputy, and all members of the state House of Assembly for six months. A retired naval chief, Ibok-Ette Ibas, was appointed interim administrator. Fubara was reinstated after a peace deal brokered by the President involving the governor, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and the state lawmakers.
However, responding to the governor’s defection, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Ememobong, said Fubara chose his current path and should not blame the party for the consequences. In a strongly-worded statement, Ememobong said the governor’s troubles were “self-inflicted,” adding that the PDP, civil society groups and many Nigerians had stood firmly with him during the height of the crisis.
“The Governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination. Having done so voluntarily, he cannot now accuse our party of abandoning or not protecting him,” the PDP said. The party added that it hoped Fubara would not “suffer from Stockholm Syndrome,” where a victim begins to sympathise with or support his oppressor.
The PDP said Fubara’s exit epitomises the dangerous erosion of Nigeria’s democratic space, accusing the APC-led federal government of using state power to force political alignment in its quest to establish a one-party state.
“The Rivers situation is a testament to the dysfunctional nature of our democracy, where individuals are bigger and stronger than institutions,” the statement read. “Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify to oppose this progressive decline.”
Fubara now becomes the latest in a string of South-South PDP governors to defect to the APC, joining Delta’s Sheriff Oborevwori, Akwa Ibom’s Umo Eno, Enugu’s Peter Mbah, and Bayelsa’s Douye Diri , a wave that has significantly weakened the opposition party’s influence in the region.
The PDP has reiterated its concerns to Nigerians and the international community, warning that the ruling party’s “unrelenting disposition toward constricting the political space” signals a grave threat to the country’s democratic future.
