We are talking about the Sim made in Opobo which has been activated by 302,6votes to link the over 9m Rivers people.
Opobo has a deep history but it’s better to keep it simple and recent. Opobo is a group of war canoe houses that broke away from Bonny kingdom almost 200 years ago and settled at an island between Akwa Ibom and Bonny by sea.
There is an air about every Opobo man or woman; a mix of humility and pride at same time, plus a fragrance of gentry or royalty that warns you he or she is not cheap. High and endless education is taken for granted for them.
Is Siminalaiyi Fubara a chip off the old block? He comes from one of the most conservative professions (accounting) and worked in one of the most sensitive postings (Government House). No man or woman who passed through such path without becoming a sort of an enigma; but Opobo in him oozes.
Thus, not much was known about him until he was pushed into limelight by two incidents; one good, one bad. The bad one was news that he was one of those wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with cash withdrawals amounting to about N117Bn as the Accountant-General of Rivers State, one working closely with Governor Nyesom Wike.
The good one was that he was the one that would succeed Governor Wike. This good one proved real with PDP primaries that affirmed it; and general elections that just confirmed him.
The ugly news did not stop him, but he must stop the ugly news. This is because it may dog him all through if nothing is done to clear it. He was a man under authority who must do the bidding of his boss. The boss had immunity cloak over him but Sim didn’t have. In a state of vicious politics, such a person would get his fingers burnt. But because he had a strong backer like Ofia Nwani had as education commissioner in the old East Central State, he withstood the railing.
Now, this subordinate is now the substantive. The prince has become the king-in-waiting.
Many believe he was imposed on the PDP and later Rivers people, but hints are emerging to indicate it was not entirely so. Others said he was plucked to plug a hole in the EFCC investigation, but it is getting out that an inner caucus picked him when the choice narrowed to two persons. It was found that Sim was never overly ambitious, and such men as Shehu Shagari, Umoru Musa Ya’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, usually get what others almost kill to get. Thus, this landed on his laps.
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The next fear is that he would be rubber stamp to whatever his outgoing boss says, or that he is just Wike’s 3rd term. Sim alone can justify or debunk this, but political analysts must recall a personality called Sullivan Chime under Governor Chimaraoke Nnamani. The brilliant lawyer looked so innocent and feeble that his boss handed over everything including a ruthless machinery of loyalists. The moment the key of power entered his hands, Chime turned to leather and showed a steely authority in self-assertiveness that shocked the whole world to his last day in power.
Lesson: do not say you knew a man until you see him pass through the three Ps: poverty, prosperity, and power.
So, who truly is Sim? Ah, we all think we know him, his boss knows him, but his God knows him best. Wait till May 29!
Election results: What is clear is that the entire Opobo rallied round him and jettisoned every other interest to deliver their own. It was no more about party. His party polled over 11,000 votes to keep his closest rival APC at mere 1,400.
When the did was done, they partied all night even on the seas with boat regatta.
Welcome Sim! Get ready for eight years of storm, gale, cruise and chant. The press is ready when you are.