President of the Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, has said there is nothing wrong if Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, defects from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly if it contributes to resolving the state’s prolonged political crisis.
Prof. Okaba made this statement on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, where he reacted to the governor’s recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos and speculations of a possible defection.
“There’s nothing wrong about that,” Okaba said, when asked about Fubara’s rumoured plan to dump the PDP. “At this point, we must be realistic, and we must have an understanding of Nigerian politics. We operate a ‘malutocracy’; we don’t have political parties anymore, but platforms for political contestations.”
He added, “What we have are just platforms put together for people to transmit or oscillate from one place to another. If we have state governors and former vice presidential candidates of parties just moving on to the extent that one of the governors said, ‘If you don’t move with me, I will sack you’ then what are we even saying?”
Okaba stressed that party affiliation should not take precedence over the peace and stability of Rivers State, especially as Governor Fubara had openly committed to peace. “Fubara said it himself that he would do anything to bring back peace to the state,” the Ijaw leader recalled.
The Rivers crisis escalated earlier this year when, on March 18, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, Dr. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months.
Following the declaration, Tinubu appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas as the interim administrator to oversee the state’s affairs.
