Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Fubara announced his defection to the APC at a meeting with some government officials at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
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The governor’s defection came hours after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa in Abuja.
‘Why I defected to the APC’
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Mr Fubara, at the meeting, explained 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 noted that he visited Mr Tinubu on Monday to “brief him on the situation of things” in Rivers State, and that the “most interesting part” of the meeting was their discussion about his planned defection to the APC.
“But the most interesting part of the meeting is what you all have been waiting for. What you have been asking me. The signal has finally arrived,” he said, apparently referring to the defection to the APC.
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Mr Fubara continued: “Everyone here who has followed me, who has suffered with me, my decision today, this evening is: We are moving to the APC.
“We can’t support Mr President if we don’t fully identify with him, not backyard support.”
The officials in attendance immediately began to sing in expression of solidarity and appreciation to the president.
Like Fubara, like Rivers lawmakers
Mr Fubara’s defection happened days after 16 members of the Rivers House of Assembly, including the speaker, defected to the APC from the PDP.
READ ALSO: PDP Rep defects from party, joins APC
Before now, there had been political crises in Rivers State, which were triggered by the feud between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Messrs. Fubara and Wike’s face-off stemmed from their struggle for control of the political structures in Rivers.
The Fubara-Wike feud initially split the state assembly into two factions. While 27 lawmakers led by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, were loyal to Mr Wike, a four-member faction of the assembly was loyal to Governor Fubara.
The political crises later resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers by President Tinubu, who suspended Mr Fubara, his deputy and all elected officials in the state for six months.
In June, President Tinubu brokered a peace deal between the suspended governor and the FCT minister, which paved the way for the termination of the emergency rule and the lifting of the suspension on the elected officials.
Mr Fubara and the state’s assembly members resumed duties after 18 September 2025, following the president’s declaration of an end to the emergency rule in the south-southern state.
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