Fubara: We won’t make mistake again in Rivers come 2027 – Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that the people of Rivers State will not repeat past political mistakes ahead of the 2027 general elections, signalling an early start to political mobilisation in the state.

Speaking during a visit to Khana Local Government Area on Tuesday, Wike said political activities would begin in January 2026, warning residents against making choices they might later regret.

“We won’t make mistake again. The first one you have done – have they said thank you?” He asked the crowd, which responded in the negative.

“So, if you make another mistake, that means they will drive you out.”

Although Wike did not mention Governor Siminalayi Fubara by name, the comment is a veiled reference to the ongoing political rift between both men. Fubara, who succeeded Wike as governor in 2023, has presided over a deeply fractured political landscape in Rivers State, with his administration engulfed in a protracted power struggle over the control of the state’s political structure. The crisis later escalated into a constitutional standoff that led to the declaration of a state of emergency and his suspension.

Wike further stated that political alignment in the state would no longer be driven by party labels but by collective interest, declaring that the state now operates under what he described as the “Renewed Hope” political family.

“For us, there’s nothing like APC or PDP; what we have is Renewed Hope. We’re not voting based on party but on the fact that we belong to one political family, which is the Renewed Hope family,” he said.

In a major political shift, Fubara defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in early December, reportedly becoming the party’s leader in the state.

However, speaking at an end-of-year media parley in Port Harcourt on Monday, Wike dismissed the defection as belated and politically insignificant, insisting that leadership within a party is determined by structure and grassroots control, not by office or symbolic gestures.

“Defecting to another party does not make you the leader,” Wike said. “When you say you are joining a party, you must have something to offer.”

“There’s nothing like 001. You register in your ward. If you are 001, it’s only in your ward. That is not leadership.”

Wike also argued that Fubara’s defection did not change the political balance in the state, noting that 22 local government chairmen and more than half of the Rivers State House of Assembly members had joined the APC before the governor’s move.

“He decamped with who?” Wike asked. “Leadership is not because you are a governor or a minister. Leadership is about what you bring to the table.”