The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers has accused Siminalayi Fubara, governor of the state, of betrayal following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers, Nname Ewor, the PDP caretaker committee chairman in the state, claimed Fubara led party stakeholders to believe he could politically neutralise Wike, only to later defect to the ruling party.
He said Fubara’s actions amounted to “taking the party’s mandate” to the APC, noting that the governor owed the Rivers people a full explanation of the agreements reached before President Bola Tinubu lifted the emergency rule in the state.
“While this disagreement [with the Rivers lawmakers] was on, a lot of us were deceived into believing so many things that were not true. In other words, the governor deceived us,” he said
“Rather than give us the true pictures of things, we were led with propaganda and lies, making us believe that the governor will wrestle political control from Wike.
“During the period of the emergency rule, another round of peace pact was brokered by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“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 a state of emergency in the supreme court to protect our mandate.
“Today, the governor has taken our mandate to the All Progressive Congress, which, with all intent and purpose, is not proper.”
The PDP chieftain claimed Fubara boasted that Tinubu would compel the state assembly to pass the 2026 budget and also force Wike to work for his re-election.
Ewor also spoke on the PDP’s elective national convention held in Ibadan in November 2025, during which the Rivers state executive committee of the party was dissolved and a caretaker panel appointed.
He said although Fubara was still a PDP governor at the time and approved the state’s participation, he failed to attend the convention.
“We therefore demand that governor Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, address Rivers people, Nigerians and indeed the world at large on all the agreements reached with the FCT minister, the state house of assembly, in a peace deal brokered by the president,” he said.
Ewor, however, declared support for the re-election bid of the president in 2027.
