Fubara’s false hope for Rivers’ emancipation

One thing that Rivers’ people have desired more than anything else is the emancipation of the state from the iron grip of Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and former governor of the state.

From one person to the other, they recount their experiences during the eight-year ‘reign’ of the former governor, who acted like a czar, without restraint in both action and speech.

Nobody could tame him, so when Siminalayi Fubara, incumbent governor, came in with a more humane approach to governance by doing those things that were his responsibility (paying salaries, gratuities and pensions) they supported him implicitly.

Neither talkative nor boisterous, and respectful with a likeable demeanor, Fubara captured the heart of the people, and both elders, women and the youth sang his praise openly, as he worked to take development to all the nooks and crannies of the state.

So, when decided that he had had enough of Wike, his godfather’s intimidating and repressive, and most times, oppressive behaviour towards him and stood up to fight, they had no choice than to give him the needed support.

And when the bubble burst and it needed the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to bring both men together and ensure peace in the oil-rich state, elders like Peter Odili, former governor of the state, accompanied him to Abuja.

Read also: The trajectory of Fubara’s persecution and rejection

But, as it happened, without due consultation with the elders, he signed an agreement the contents of which are still a matter of conjecture until today, which was one of his gravest mistakes.

One, Wike was enacting the godfatherism that Tinubu has mastered in Lagos State, controlling every facet of the political life of the people, which he displayed when he stopped Ambode’s second term ambition, and Fubara joining the opposition did not save him.

The capitulation of Fubara, even after obtaining the expression of interest and nomination forms for the governorship primary election, was a big blow to his vibrant support base.

Opunabo Inko-Tariah, one of his ardent supporters, in an interview with BusinessDaySunday, had assured that Fubara would contest the primary election and win.

“The governor is definitely contesting. He is. He has not said he’s not contesting. He did not reject the forms. He would have come out openly to say, I reject the form, I’m not contesting. But he has not done so, and what does silence mean? Consent.

“So, it’s obvious that he’s contesting. But you see, the governor is not somebody that is garrulous. He keeps a lot to his chest. He believes in action than words. And I believe that at the appropriate time he is going to address a press conference because the primaries or whatever are just by the corner,” he stated.

To many Rivers people, it was clear that the road ahead of the governor was unassailable given the fact that he had been stripped bare of his power, and only just survived by the mercy of Mr. President.

But, the capitulation, the resignation, dropping out of the race was obviously too much for the support base to bear, so now the inquest into the remote and immediate causes has begun.

David West, chairman, Civil Liberties Organization in Bayelsa State, who hails from Asari/Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, had told BusinessDaySunday in an interview after the latest intervention by President Tinubu that Fubara should learn how to use power.

He said: “I also want to use this opportunity to advise the governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara to know that he has the power with him. He has everything with him as the governor of the state. He should begin to learn how to use power or exert power.”

Obviously, he did not and might have purchased the governorship forms on the whim that somehow, by some fluke, the road, which he had blocked by the one-term agreement, would open up for him.

What Fubara’s actions show is a total lack of both hindsight and foresight for, as the saying goes, “If you want to eat with the devil, you need a very long spoon.”

It is not that the former governor is a devil, but a politician who has mastered the game of using people to his advantage, and Fubara did not consider the likes of Uche Secundus, one-time National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who fell out with Wike and the outcome.

It is not clear if Fubara had a backup plan, and his dumping the PDP for the APC was not strategic because it was not a hidden fact that Wike controlled both parties in the state.

He entered into a fight without considering the outcome, he did not consider the impact on his support base, which means that all the while, he thought of only himself.

His statement on his decision to drop out of the race did not reveal any deep truths, and like Inko-Tariah said, he still kept so much to himself when he said, “As our elders say, not everything a hunter sees in the forest is spoken of in the marketplace. Some truths are best borne quietly, not out of fear, but out of wisdom and restraint for the sake of peace and a greater purpose. It is enough to say that I have faced immense pressures and difficult choices, but my love for Rivers State remains greater than anything else.”

That all other gubernatorial aspirants dropped out of the race the same day told of the pressure he hinted at, but will his support base see through his veiled speech, will he receive adulation?

Obia Nuju, a member of that silent support group that hoped against hope that somehow, everything would work out well for the governor was straightforward and emphatic in her dissection of the problem.

Nuju blamed the entire development on the governor, saying he was weak in his handling of the relationship between him and his predecessor.

She said Fubara ought to have remained loyal to Wike, in the first place, since he made him governor, and not bite the finger that fed him.

According to her, at the point Fubara decided to assert himself, he should have stood firm until the end, no matter what.

Nuju said, by making Rivers’ people believe in him that through him, the state would be delivered from the iron grip of Wike, and later withdrew, he has shown that he is not trustworthy.

“I also believe that if you want to stand firm, you stand firm. If that is what you want to do, you do it to the end.

“The manner in which Fubara has managed the issue has made it difficult for people to trust him, and it shows that the governor is weak.

“It makes it difficult for people to trust you. It is weakness. What is the tendency that if you come back again, you will stand firm?” she queried.

When the whole saga began, Udengs Eradiri, who was the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Bayelsa State, now in the APC, said without Wike, there is no Fubara.

A two-time commissioner in Bayelsa State and former President of Ijaw Youths Council Worldwide, Eradiri urged Fubara to remain loyal to Wike because the FCT Minister made him what he is.

“Who is Fubara without Wike”, he asked rhetorically, and he has been proven right because the former governor has been pulling the strings and has taught his successor a bitter lesson in politics.

One Rivers State indigene in Port Harcourt, who did not want his name in print questioned, “Where are those who urged him on in the fight?”

The indigene, a man, said now that the matter has come to a head, they have withdrawn into their shells and left the governor to face the humiliation alone.

Reflecting on the development, one journalist alleged out that the governor did not have a backup plan, hence he was easily boxed in on all sides by his political foes.

Looking at the development, one is reminded of the portion of the Bible where two disciples of Jesus, who were discussing his death, saying they thought it was He who would deliver the Israelites from the Romans.

For most Rivers people, Fubara gave them false hope that he would free the state from the godfather politics that Wike foisted on them and begin a new era of political emancipation.

Sadly, that has not happened, as everything has returned to the new normal and the wait for the freedom the people seek would continue.

With the APC already electing Kingsley Chinda, Wike’s ally and kinsman, as their flag bearer for the 2027 governorship election, it is crystal clear who is holding sway in the politics of Rivers State.

It is now left for the new political parties and emerging opposition political parties that are yet to make their presence felt in the state to try to do what Fubara was unable to do.

Some believed Fubara ought to have borrowed a leaf from Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra State, who stood his ground until his political foes removed him as governor.

They said Ngige did not betray the people’s trust and when he contested for Senate, they supported him, as a man would not go back on his word.

Just recently, Fubara said he is in high spirits as he inspected the Airport Road Bypass in Port Harcourt, which is at 65 percent completion, saying it would be completed by December this year.

The governor has been committed to both human and capital development, and in spite of all the political battles, did not stop his infrastructure development agenda.

But, as he is in high spirits, you see the people huddled in little groups, discussing the entire development, just like those disciples of Jesus, wondering what could have been.