Suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, is reportedly ready to make political concessions\u2014and possibly defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)\u2014to ease the prolonged crisis in his state and regain his seat.<\/p>\n
This comes after a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu in London during the President\u2019s recently concluded 18-day European retreat.<\/p>\n
According to The Africa Report, the meeting was held at Fubara\u2019s request and was his first face-to-face with Tinubu since the March 18 declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State.<\/p>\n
A senior presidential adviser told the French-based outlet that Fubara \u201cpledged to make certain concessions in a bid to ease tensions,\u201d with ongoing negotiations hinting that his six-month suspension may be lifted earlier than September.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has promised to make some compromises,\u201d the source said. \u201cNegotiations are progressing well, and he could be reinstated before the suspension ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a dramatic twist, another aide disclosed that Fubara is also weighing a defection from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC\u2014potentially boosting Tinubu\u2019s grip on the politically strategic, oil-rich state ahead of future elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Fubara joins the APC, the president\u2019s chances in Rivers State rise significantly,\u201d the aide noted.<\/p>\n
Fubara\u2019s ouster stemmed from a bitter feud with his estranged political godfather, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.<\/p>\n
The power struggle exploded in December 2023 when Fubara ordered the demolition of the state\u2019s House of Assembly complex. That act, coupled with the defection of 27 pro-Wike lawmakers to the APC, triggered a constitutional crisis and a legal tug-of-war.<\/p>\n
On February 28, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defected lawmakers, accusing Fubara of unconstitutional actions that reduced Rivers to a \u201cone-man rule.\u201d Despite the verdict, governance remained gridlocked, and by March 2025, the state\u2019s annual budget had yet to be passed.<\/p>\n
Tensions reached a breaking point when back-to-back pipeline explosions rocked parts of Rivers State in March\u2014incidents Tinubu linked to militant groups allegedly loyal to Fubara.<\/p>\n
Citing threats to national stability and economic sabotage, the president invoked Section 305 of the Constitution, suspended Fubara and his deputy, and installed retired Navy Chief, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, as sole administrator.<\/p>\n
With mounting pressure from PDP governors challenging the legality of the emergency rule, Tinubu\u2019s recent dialogue with Fubara could signal the beginning of a political truce.<\/p>\n
While Wike was noticeably excluded from the London meeting\u2014and reportedly uneasy about being sidelined\u2014Tinubu is expected to meet with all key players, including Wike and the Rivers lawmakers, in a bid to broker lasting peace.<\/p>\n
For now, all eyes remain on Fubara\u2014who may be walking a political tightrope back to power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, is reportedly ready to make political concessions\u2014and possibly defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)\u2014to ease the prolonged crisis in his state and regain his seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[111,10629,1383,10124,220,4167,193],"class_list":["post-23556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-apc","tag-concessions","tag-defection","tag-fubara","tag-london","tag-power","tag-tinubu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23556"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23558,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23556\/revisions\/23558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}