by Mohammed Bello Doka
20 May, 2026.
The quiet withdrawal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara from the Rivers State All Progressives Congress governorship primary on Wednesday night is being dressed up as a noble sacrifice for peace and unity. But let nobody be fooled. A man does not step aside from a contest he was never truly allowed to enter. The truth is far uglier and far more brutal. Fubara has never been accepted into the APC family. He has endured humiliation after humiliation, watched his loyalists thrown into the political gutter, and been treated like an unwanted stranger in a house where he should be a leader. And yet, the central question remains: will he now chicken out completely, or will he finally stand and fight like a man who has nothing left to lose? The tragic answer is that even if he refuses to fight, the APC will never leave him alone.
The rejection of Siminalayi Fubara by the machinery of the APC did not begin with his withdrawal. It has been a calculated, drawn-out exercise in political strangulation. The most glaring evidence came when the party’s screening committee disqualified a staggering 32 House of Assembly aspirants directly sponsored by the governor, while simultaneously clearing candidates loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. Out of 98 aspirants who appeared before the committee, only 33 were cleared, and the overwhelming majority of those successful were known Wike loyalists. High-profile figures in Fubara’s camp, including former Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo and former council chairman Chijioke Ihunwo, were unceremoniously dumped. The message could not have been clearer: Fubara’s people are not welcome.
The intimidation did not stop at the governor’s foot soldiers. It came for the man himself. On May 10, Fubara stormed out of the APC screening hall in Abuja after barely 20 minutes, with anger written across his face, and refused to speak to journalists. While other governors were traditionally escorted out of the venue as a mark of respect, Fubara was left to walk out alone, and committee members themselves left the room six minutes after his departure. One can only imagine the cold silence that greeted him. The reception was so visibly poor that the governor was left fuming and humiliated on a national stage. His political future, which should have been secure as a sitting governor, was suddenly cast into fresh uncertainty.
Even as he tried to put on a brave face, dismissing defection rumours and insisting he remained a committed APC member, the message from the party’s leadership was deafening silence. The party’s national secretary, Ajibola Basiru, offered a carefully worded non-answer when asked whether Fubara had even been screened at all: I don’t know what you mean by screened, he said. That kind of response is not political neutrality. It is a dagger dressed in diplomatic language. And while the APC national chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, publicly insisted that Fubara is the party leader in Rivers State, the reality on the ground was that his authority was being systematically dismantled by the same party he was supposed to lead.
The masterstroke of political siege came from outside the APC altogether, from the man who remains the shadow ruler of Rivers politics. Nyesom Wike, Fubara’s estranged godfather, reportedly met with APC National Chairman Yilwatda in a move that deepened the plot against the governor’s 2027 ambition. The meeting, which came just as the screening process was underway, was widely interpreted as part of a coordinated effort to ensure that Fubara would never get a second term. According to sources, Wike himself has been quoted as saying that a second term for Fubara would amount to his political burial. This is not subtle politics. This is war. And the APC, by its actions and inactions, has chosen its side.
So now we arrive at Wednesday’s announcement. Fubara, in a carefully crafted statement, spoke of deep reflection, sacrifice, and the need for peace. He quoted the elders, saying not everything a hunter sees in the forest is spoken of in the marketplace. But Nigerians are not children. We know what those unspoken truths are. He stepped aside not because he wanted to, but because the path had been booby-trapped at every turn. The party had already disqualified his people, humiliated him in public, and thrown its weight behind his rivals. To stay in the race would have been to walk into a rigged arena with his hands tied behind his back. That is not cowardice. But that does not mean his withdrawal should be excused as mere strategy.
The real question now is what comes next. Will Fubara chicken out completely, retreat into his shell, and hope that the APC will eventually tire of tormenting him? Or will he finally stand and fight like a man who has nothing to lose? He is still the sitting governor of Rivers State until 2027. He still commands a loyal base. He still has the constitutional and moral authority to speak and act. If he chooses to remain passive, to swallow every humiliation and pretend that loyalty to a party that has rejected him is a virtue, then he will have sealed his own fate. But if he decides to fight, to expose every act of injustice, to mobilise his supporters, and to remind the APC that a governor is not a pawn to be discarded at will, then the narrative changes. He would no longer be the victim. He would be the reckoning.
But here is the brutal truth that Fubara and his supporters must accept. Even if he refuses to fight, even if he bows out quietly and tries to serve out the remainder of his term in peace, the APC will never leave him alone. The party has shown its hand. It has disqualified his allies, intimidated his loyalists, and made it abundantly clear that it will not tolerate any political structure that challenges the dominance of Wike’s camp within its ranks. As long as Fubara remains governor, he will be seen as a threat to be neutralised. Every move he makes will be scrutinised, every ally he keeps will be targeted, and every attempt to govern effectively will be undermined. There is no graceful exit from this storm. There is only the fight or the slow, grinding erosion of everything he has built.
The hunter may choose to keep silent about what he saw in the forest. But silence is not peace. It is a surrender dressed in proverbs. Fubara must decide now whether he is a leader or a casualty. The APC has already made its decision about him. Now he must make his.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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