Fubara defected to APC of his own accord, not out of neglect — PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has clarified that Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara willingly left the party to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), refuting claims circulating online that he was abandoned during his political standoff with his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

The PDP insisted that Fubara’s defection was a personal decision and not the result of neglect or lack of support from the party’s national leadership.

In a statement, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, suggested that Mr Fubara’s decision may be linked to the trauma of the political crisis he faced, which he said could have caused temporary amnesia.

“Everyone who has followed the developments that culminated in this uneventful defection, will recall that the Governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination. Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group of abandoning or not protecting him.

“Whilst a person who is at a crossroad of threats of existential proportion, will most likely suffer from temporary amnesia caused by trauma, the Governor should have nothing less than praise for our party, civil society organisations, and all Nigerians who freely stood up in his defence since this crisis started until he capitulated. It is our prayer that the Governor should not suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor. In all, despite these, we pity the Governor and wish him well,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Fubara announced his defection to the APC during a meeting with government officials at the Government House, Port Harcourt. The announcement was after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He said that his decision to defect to the APC was to enable him to offer full support to President Tinubu, who is a member of the APC.

The governor’s move came a few days after 16 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, including the speaker, dumped the PDP for the APC.

The defection is the latest chapter in the prolonged political crisis rooted in the tussle for control of the state’s political structure between Messrs Fubara and Wike. The feud split the state assembly into two factions, 27 lawmakers loyal to Mr Wike, and four lawmakers aligned with the governor.

The crisis escalated to a state of emergency, declared by President Tinubu, leading to the six-month suspension of the governor, his deputy and all elected officials in the state.

In June, the president brokered a peace deal between Mr Fubara and the FCT minister, ending the emergency rule and reinstating the suspended officials. The governor and lawmakers resumed duty on 18 September 2025.

Mr Ememobong said the Rivers crisis shows the fragility of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.

“Furthermore, the Rivers situation is a testament to the dysfunctional nature of our democracy, where individuals are bigger and stronger than institutions and can use the apparatus of the Federal Government to obfuscate political life out of their opponents and bring them to their knees. Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms,’ he said.

He said that the PDP would resist attempts by the APC to allegedly force Nigeria into a one-party state.

“Finally, we reiterate to Nigerians and the global community that with the unrelenting disposition of the ruling party towards the attainment of a one-party state, and the constriction of the political space, democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria. Everyone must rise together to oppose this ignoble trip toward electoral authoritarianism.”