Why Fubara lost second term ambition – Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Tuesday, explained how the lingering political crisis in Rivers state denied Governor Siminalayi Fubara his second term ambition.

The minister said Fubara destroyed his ambition by listening to political associates and external forces seeking to capture the state and render him incapable of governing.

The former Rivers state governor disclosed this during his monthly media chat where he reflected on his troubled relationship with Fubara.

The minister said he repeatedly warned Governor Fubara not to abandon the political structure that brought him to power.

“I said, ‘look, don’t derail. I came as governor, I had a crisis. When I came as governor, there was nothing.’ They didn’t even relocate the Government House”.

He recalled inheriting an administration with little or no resources, disclosing that he had to borrow ceremonial vehicles from former Ondo state governor Olusegun Mimiko.

“When I came, I had to borrow vehicles from the former governor of Ondo, Mimiko, these parade vehicles. Nobody kept any vehicle; I didn’t have one.

“But before I left as governor, I packed out from Government House one and a half years before. I renovated the Government House. I bought vehicles for the governor, the deputy governor and the governor’s wife. I did that,” he said.

The disagreement between Wike and Fubara began shortly after Fubara assumed office in 2023, when Wike accused his successor of moving too quickly to dismantle the political structure that produced him and build an independent political base within his first 100 days.

The power struggle escalated into open conflict involving the Rivers State House of Assembly, repeated impeachment threats against the governor by lawmakers loyal to Wike, and a six-month state of emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu in March 2025 that temporarily suspended Fubara and the legislature.

After his reinstatement, Fubara defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing the need to express gratitude to Tinubu for intervening in the crisis.

He later obtained nomination forms to contest the APC governorship primaries for a second term but withdrew in May 2026, a move Wike and his allies linked to earlier peace understandings under which the governor allegedly agreed not to seek re-election in exchange for the withdrawal of impeachment threats.

Wike said his expectation was that Fubara would build on the foundation he left behind rather than dismantle it.

“Somebody had laid a foundation. Look, this is where I stopped. If you continue this way, our dream is to be able to compete with Lagos. What is wrong with that?” he asked.

The FCT minister alleged that individuals who initially opposed Fubara’s emergence as governor later became his close allies and encouraged him to confront his political benefactors.

“Somebody comes, and that’s why you have to be careful. Those who didn’t want you to be governor now became your friends. Obviously, they will destroy you, thinking that coming closer to you is to fight us.

 “At the end of the fight, I have not lost anything. What have I lost? Nothing. But you have lost. Your intention was to go for a second term, is it not correct? And you are not going,” Wike said.

According to him, some of those individuals later advised Fubara to resist his political camp.

“When this thing happened, they were so bitter that they started giving the governor wrong advice: ‘Don’t worry, the law says this, the law didn’t say this.’”

Wike claimed the influence of such actors became excessive.