Rivers PDP accuses Fubara of betrayal, alleges secret pact with Tinubu

The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused Governor Siminalayi Fubara of betraying the party and the people of the state by abandoning the PDP in the midst of the lingering political crisis rocking Rivers.

Speaking at a news conference in Port Harcourt on Thursday, a factional Caretaker Chairman of the party, Dr. Nname Ewor, said the governor’s alleged defection amounted to a grave betrayal of the mandate freely given to him by Rivers people under the PDP platform.

Ewor recalled that the political face-off between Governor Fubara and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly erupted barely a year after he assumed office, plunging the state into a prolonged crisis. He said President Bola Tinubu later intervened to broker peace, adding that part of the agreement reached was that Fubara would not seek a second term in office.

According to him, the peace deal also required the governor to reinstate Chief Ohna Awuse as Chairman of the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council, as well as drop Tammy Danagogo as Secretary to the State Government and Edison Ehie as Chief of Staff. Ewor alleged that Fubara failed to honour all the terms of the agreement, leading to the collapse of the peace process and the subsequent declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers by President Tinubu.

The PDP chieftain further claimed that Governor Fubara entered into another agreement with the President shortly before the emergency rule was lifted, a development he said eventually culminated in the governor’s defection from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ewor alleged that shortly after announcing his defection, the governor began boasting that President Tinubu would compel members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to pass the 2026 budget. He also claimed that Fubara had allegedly said the President would force the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to support his second-term re-election bid.

Calling for transparency, Ewor urged the governor to disclose the full details of the agreement he allegedly reached with President Tinubu before the emergency rule was lifted.

“The mandate Fubara is holding was given to him by Rivers people, and all his actions and inactions affect all those whose mandate he is holding,” Ewor said. “It is incumbent on him at this material time to disclose to Rivers people the terms of the peace agreement he entered with Tinubu. This will enable Rivers people to make informed decisions.”

He recalled that the PDP had approached the Supreme Court to challenge the declaration of emergency rule in order to protect its mandate in the state, describing it as unjust for the governor to allegedly transfer that mandate to the APC.

“Today, Fubara has taken our mandate to the APC, which with all intent and purpose is unjust,” he said.

Ewor also accused the governor of misleading party members into attending the PDP Convention in Ibadan, only for him to stay away from the meeting, an issue he said is now the subject of litigation.

He added that he had fully aligned himself with Nyesom Wike’s calls for the re-election of President Tinubu in the 2027 general election, deepening the political fault lines within Rivers State.