I Have Embraced Peace With Wike, Rivers Lawmakers — Fubara
Fubara also appealed to the indigines of the state to ''embrace this moment as a fresh beginning.''Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, says he and his predecessor, Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, have agreed to end their political feud following the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Fubara disclosed this on Friday during a statewide broadcast in Port Harcourt, asserting that the peace deal was necessary for the progress of the state.“In the course of the six-month period, Mr President graciously brokered the peace process with all the parties successfully. Our Leader.’
His Excellency, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and I, as your Governor, have all accepted to bury the hatchet and embrace peace and reconciliation in the best interest of our dear Rivers State,” the governor said.Governor Fubara noted that while the standoff had tested the state’s resilience, it also provided lessons for the political class.“
We believe the political crisis is now behind us and that peace and stability have once again returned to Rivers State, though not without the hard lessons learnt from the emergency rule,” he stated.The governor’s return follows the lifting of a six-month emergency rule imposed by President Bola Tinubu in March 2025, which saw Fubara, his deputy, and the Rivers State House of Assembly suspended amid a political and legislative crisis.
Fubara/Wike FeudFubara and Wike’s relationship seemed like one destined to go smoothly, with the former uttering the famous words during his inaugural speech, ” Please don’t be too far from me because I know that the sharks, the tigers are really around looking for what to hurt’’However, six months down the line, Fubara’s promise to his predecessor turned them into political enemies.
Rivers State, dubbed the Treasure Base of the Nation, became a theatre of chaos and destruction.The oil-rich state witnessed impeachment attempts, bomb blasts, and defection of 25 House of Assembly members, among others.The cold war between the duo continued despite the intervention of President Bola Tinubu and other relevant stakeholders.
The reason for the feud, according to the Rivers state first citizen, “We all know the issue. It is very simple. It has to do with the issue of power and control. You have all seen it in this case. If an election had been held in Rivers and council chairmen had been inaugurated in a normal situation, do we even need anybody to go and obstruct them from entering the Secretariat?
On his part, Wike cited betrayal as a root cause ‘I weep in my quiet moments when I remember Fubara’s betrayal’ and also alleging that Fubara is preventing people close to him from accessing funds, contracts, or patronage.In a nationwide broadcast, Tinubu would declare a state of emergency, saying he received “disturbing security reports detailing incidents of vandalisation of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them”.
He added that he could not allow the “grave situation” to continue.
