In a bizarre move that suggests an abracadabra of sorts, or better still, the more you look the less you see as events unfold in the Rivers of wonders, Governor Siminalayi Fubara appears to have gone back to his vomit when he declares support for the Nyesom Wike’s Rainbow Coalition and urges his supporters to address him (Wike) as the ultimate leader of the Garden City state
By Chinedu Oguh, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, an accountant and civil servant turned politician may have sent the wrong signal in the political space of the country while addressing the Rainbow Coalition in Port Harcourt on Tuesday October 27, 2026, where he told his supporters that he was not their leader but Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike is the ultimate leader of the state. This is in spite of the official position of Fubara as the number one citizen of the state as the incumbent governor who wields the executive power. Fubara’s capitulation to Wike, Rivers event watchers argued, is a sign of cowardice and weakness.
After months of political battles, hot arguments and fierce insistence by some supporters that Sim Fubara was the undisputed leader, the governor put the argument to rest once and for all by publicly declaring and recognizing Wike as the leader of his political family.
But experts are saying that Governor Fubara cannot wake up and change the constitution of Nigeria overnight. They explained that the moment one is elected as a governor, he automatically becomes the leader of everyone in the state, including his predecessors, leaders, elders of the state, even his own parents. According to them, as Governor of Rivers State today, he is Wike’s leader.
On what has really happened to Fubara, some suspect his wings have been completely clipped. Some mock him for entering a battle he was ill-prepared for, while others dismiss him as a weakling.
One of them, Stephen Azele said that Fubara is under bondage. He is in captivity. He has never been the one governing Rivers State till date. He’s been living in bondage of Wike’s governance and control. I think he needs prayers and should be pitied and pardoned.
Akidi Uche agrees with Azele, Fubara is under captivity. Let him be. It’s Rivers NDC and ADC now that has to close ranks, formulate power sharing formulas and form their own coalition to take power away from Wike, so that people can be freed. Imagine, Governor Fubara has reduced the office of governor to mere errand boys office. Someone made Wike what he is today, so why should Wike make someone a big issue. He has made Fubara a puppet. Fubara to me is in a drowning ship of his traducer Wike, the evil genius.
Tonye Benibo advises Rivers people who mean well for the state to stop supporting Fubara because he is not a man to be trusted. A two-faced person and a betrayer of the people. He is serving his pay masters and not the Rivers people. Worst Governor since the creation of Rivers State said Benibo. Who on earth will take Fubara serious.
Many people are of the opinion that the governor is everything bad a person can be. They said he has failed as a follower and as a leader. He fell out with the man who brought him to power and stood by him throughout the fight. But when it was time to make peace, he went a-lone.
It is on this note, that the Rivers Women group Women Unite for Sim; has sent a strong message to Fubara that posterity will not forgive him for using and sacrificing them to his Rainbow Coalition deity. The women who stood behind Fubara in his dark days, who also prayed and fasted and protested against the injustice in Rivers State, have come out to say that posterity will never forgive Fubara
for using them to make way for his selfish interest and deceiving them all along.
The truth political watchers in the state are saying is that Fubara has lost relevance in the state. He has lost the political bearing of the state. For them, Fubara is not a politician but a political robot. O.K Chinda would succeed me, I will do everything within my power to deliver all Rainbow Coalition candidates? Governor Fubara declares. They said that this statement is really embarrassing to hear from a sitting governor. How can you be promising succession for Chinda and Rainbow Coalition candidates when all your own candidates were disqualified including yourself. Instead of fixing that you are making a declaration?
Rivers people deserve serious governance, not this kind of statement: We need solutions, not succession promises for others when your own political future is already in question. It is quite embarrassing,” they said.
Onyenma Martins said his happiness about the unfolding drama is that those who are defending him have come to realize that he is even worse than Wike.
Promise Austin agrees with Martins: Normally you shouldn’t expect anything good to come from the man that brought him. A bad man cannot choose a good man, evil goes with evil. When dealing with people like him, one need to be very careful, Rivers of Wonders.
Samuel Ebenezer corroborated their views saying, “When I said this man was going to fail woefully, they thought it was a joke. He came through the wrong man and the wrong path. If the person he is campaigning for now wins, expect the same outcome. Wike never means well for Rivers people, he cannot give Rivers State a governor that can perform and he will never allow anybody that comes through him to outshine him. This is why anybody that comes through him will always fail.
Some argue he is not a politician nor a leader, he just wants to complete his term and go away from troubles. Funny thing, he doesn’t know that real trouble starts after he has left office. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.”
Government House sources told Tentacle that Fubara was made a governor to avoid being arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after Wike’s administration.
Ordinarily he wasn’t supposed to sit there. Now that he has secured his immunity, they want him out so that they can put who they want. Now, he has given up his second term ambitions and supports the same people he once fought against and called oppressors. To me that is cowardice. He couldn’t keep his word as a follower and couldn’t stand by his words as a leader. Very unfortunate, he can’t be trusted! Gift Mba told Tentacle.
Meanwhile, a former state commissioner and spokesperson for African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr. Leloonu Nwibubasa has accused Wike of imprisoning the destiny of millions of Rivers youth.
Nwibubasa made the allegation during an appearance on Symfon TV where he discussed the current political landscape in Rivers State. Describing himself as the weapon fashioned against the Minister. He stated he is determined to oppose Wike and what he stands for.
Speaking on why he was confident about challenging Wike in Rivers, he said if you read the Bible a child was taken to the temple to be dedicated. His name was Jesus and the man that was to dedicate him was called Simeon and he said this child is for the rising and falling of many in Israel.
“I am for the fall of Nyesom Wike, I am the weapon fashioned against him because that’s why I have not gone back to him like other people who worked with him and they go back to him. So clearly, he is one man that I will stand to speak against and ensure he doesn’t continue because he has imprisoned the destiny of millions of Rivers youth. Such a fight is a good fight,” he concluded.
A political commentator Ignatius Chukwu warned that those pushing that a Minister should be a leader in a state where the state Governor is in the same party should be told that this is how baby monsters are created and incubated. Every monster he said will grow and consume those that created it.
