Rivers State Governor Fubara withdrew from the APC governorship primary on May 20, citing peace and unity, days after 65 of his allies were screened out of legislative primaries while Wike-aligned aspirants were cleared, in a withdrawal whose rest...
- Fubara withdraws from APC governorship primary
- Rivers governor cites peace and unity concerns
- Dozens of alleged allies reportedly disqualified
- Wike loyalists dominate cleared aspirants list
Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, announced his withdrawal from the APC governorship primaries on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in a personally signed statement that was diplomatic in tone and devastating in implication: a sitting governor has been effectively forced out of his own party’s primary by the same political machinery that drove him from his previous party.
“After deep reflection and extensive consultations with my family, friends, and associates, I have taken the difficult but necessary decision to withdraw from the APC gubernatorial primaries,” Fubara said. “I do so with a full heart and with a firm commitment to support whoever emerges as the candidate of our great party.”
The statement was titled “My Decision to Withdraw from the Rivers State Gubernatorial Primaries”. The careful, dignified language it deployed was not entirely able to contain what had happened in the days preceding it.
The withdrawal did not arrive in isolation. It came days after a screening process that produced outcomes whose pattern was impossible to misread.
Of 98 aspirants who purchased APC nomination forms and appeared before the party’s screening panel in Rivers State, only 33 were cleared to contest. Among the 65 disqualified were aspirants broadly identified as Fubara allies. Among those cleared were aspirants broadly identified as loyal to Nyesom Wike, the former Rivers State Governor now serving as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in President Tinubu’s cabinet.
Victor Oko Jumbo, the former factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and a figure associated with Fubara’s legislative allies, was among those denied clearance for the state assembly primaries. Chijioke Ihunwo, former chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and a known Fubara ally, was similarly excluded.
Fubara himself appeared before the APC’s governorship screening exercise in Abuja. He left the venue without addressing journalists, responding only with “no comment” when questioned about the political situation in his state. That image, a sitting governor leaving a party screening venue in silence, was itself a statement that his Wednesday withdrawal made explicit.
Fubara’s statement was written with the restraint of a man who has decided that saying everything clearly would cost him more than it would gain. But certain sentences carry more than they appear to.
“Rivers State is bigger than any individual, and at this critical moment, the peace, stability, and unity of our dear state must take precedence over every personal interest,” he said.
“As our elders say, not everything a hunter sees in the forest is spoken of in the marketplace. Some truths are best borne quietly, not out of fear, but out of wisdom and restraint for the sake of peace and a greater purpose.”
That proverb, deployed in a formal political withdrawal statement, is the public expression of a private reckoning. The hunter has seen things in the forest. He is not speaking of them in the marketplace. He is withdrawing with his dignity, his governorship tenure, and his silence.
He was emphatic about what the withdrawal was not. “Let it be clearly understood that I stepped aside from participating in the upcoming Rivers State governorship election not out of weakness, fear, or surrender but out of conviction and sacrifice so that Rivers State may move forward in peace and unity.”
The insistence on that characterisation is itself evidence of the pressure that prompted it. Governors who withdraw from primaries freely do not typically need to explain at length that they are not afraid.
The context that produced Wednesday’s withdrawal is one of the most prolonged and publicly documented political conflicts in Nigeria’s recent history.
Fubara took office as Rivers State Governor in 2023 under the PDP, having been Wike’s chosen successor. The relationship fractured almost immediately after inauguration, with the dispute centring on control of the state’s political and legislative structures. The resulting split in the Rivers State House of Assembly, with members aligned to each camp claiming legitimacy, produced a constitutional crisis that required federal judicial intervention to manage.
In March 2025, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending Fubara and members of the state House of Assembly before restoring them six months later. The declaration was constitutionally contested and politically charged, with critics arguing it represented federal intervention on behalf of one side of a state-level political dispute.
Fubara defected from the PDP to the APC in December 2025 in what was presented as a move toward resolution of the crisis. The defection placed him in a party where Wike, as a federal minister with significant influence over party structures, was already well-positioned. Wednesday’s primary screening outcomes, and the withdrawal that followed them, suggest that the defection resolved nothing structurally and may have placed Fubara in a weaker position than the one he left.
He thanked the APC leadership and President Tinubu for their support and encouragement throughout the process. He said he remained committed to serving the people of Rivers State until the end of his tenure.
His governorship continues. His primary campaign does not. A sitting Nigerian governor has been screened out of meaningful participation in his own party’s candidate selection process through the management of who was cleared and who was not, without a single vote being cast against him.
The hunter has seen things in the forest. The marketplace will draw its own conclusions.
This report was produced by the editorial team at The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful in line with our commitment to accuracy, fairness, and responsible journalism. Information in this article is based on verified sources available at the time of publication. The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful may update the story as new facts emerge or additional context becomes available.
The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful accepts zero funding from governments, corporations, or political parties. No advertiser dictates our coverage. No political interest shapes our investigations. The journalism you just read exists because readers like you chose to protect it. Every contribution goes directly into the field — paying reporters, protecting sources, and ensuring the stories that matter get told without fear or favour.
Funded by Readers
Us Right Now
