The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said that his political career would come to an end if Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State secures a second term in office in 2027.
Mr Wike, who helped Mr Fubara to win the Rivers governorship election in 2023, stated this on Saturday while speaking at a meeting in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
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The FCT minister reiterated that he and his followers had decided to support the reelection bid of President Bola Tinubu in 2027, but not so for Governor Fubara.
“We have made a decision as far as (Bola) Tinubu is concerned. The other one (Fubara’s second term) – no way,” he said in a veiled reference to Mr Fubara.
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“Because if we make another mistake, then we will go and bury ourselves politically. I will not allow myself to be buried. I will not allow that mistake again. So everybody should know we have made a decision,” he added.
Mr Fubara, elected governor of Rivers in 2023 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress in December of last year.
Sworn in on 29 May 2023, the governor’s first tenure will elapse by 29 May 2027.
There are indications that he will seek reelection, although he has yet to declare his interest.
Background
In the wake of the recent political tension in Rivers, Mr Fubara has faced criticism and accusations from Mr Wike and his allies in the Rivers House of Assembly in recent times.
On Friday, Mr Wike vowed that Governor Fubara will never get a second chance to govern the state in 2027.
His comments followed Mr Fubara’s New Year message in which the governor described Mr Wike’s recent threats in the state as “political noise”.
The FCT minister had, in late December, accused Mr Fubara of reneging on the terms of the peace deal brokered between them by President Bola Tinubu in June last year during an emergency rule in the south-southern state.
He also threatened to reveal details of the agreement.
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Previously, a political crisis in Rivers, triggered by the feud between Governor Fubara and Mr Wike, resulted in the declaration of emergency rule in the state by President Tinubu in March 2025.
Mr Fubara, who was suspended by Mr Tinubu for six months alongside all elected officials in the state, only returned to office in September of that year after the president declared an end to the emergency rule.
This was after President Tinubu brokered a second peace deal in June between Messrs Fubara and Wike alongside their supporters.
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