Rivers Political Crisis: Fubara Reaches Out With Two Governors, Says Wike

Amid the lingering political crisis in Rivers State, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has confirmed that suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara visited him in Abuja, accompanied by two governors and an elder statesman in a bid to broker peace.

Wike, who governed the oil-rich state until 2023, made the revelation during a media parley with select journalists on Monday. The visit, he said, signals a reconciliatory move from Fubara, whose tenure has been marred by tensions with his former political ally.

“The President has called for peace severally and I cannot sit down when the President has called for peace and I say, ‘I don’t want peace’,” Wike stated. “Yes, he came with two governors and one elder person. Unfortunately, the two governors are APC governors. So, I will not pursue him. He said he wants peace. That’s fine. I also want peace.”

The crisis, which erupted late last year, culminated in President Bola Tinubu suspending Fubara, members of the state House of Assembly, and Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and appointing an interim administrator to oversee the state’s affairs for six months.

While acknowledging Fubara’s peace overture, Wike insisted the embattled governor must go beyond symbolic gestures.

“I told him, ‘Look, I don’t think you have the capacity to really make this peace.’ That’s why when I read what I read yesterday, I felt so bad. Why? If you are making peace, your people are demonstrating every day; if you are making peace, your people are busy on television insulting people. How do you feel in that case?” he queried.

“You must take steps. Have you met the assembly people? There are leaders you should meet. It is not to say, ‘I want peace.’ You must show it by conduct and action,” Wike added.

The FCT Minister further claimed that Fubara was misled by fellow governors at the onset of the conflict.

“Governors came pushing him, where are they now? I think the governors are enjoying their own,” he said, before offering a final piece of advice: “Fubara is a young man, I warned him saying, look, go this way, go this way and you will not have problems.”

The political impasse in Rivers remains a subject of national interest, with observers closely monitoring how both leaders navigate the fragile peace process.