Fubara abandons re-election bid and hands Rivers to Wike
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vanguard
Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara has abandoned his bid for a second term and handed the state’s political leadership to Nyesom Wike. He also presented Kingsley Chinda as the coalition’s gubernatorial candidate for the 2027 elections at a rally in Port Harcourt, according to Vanguard.
The governor of Nigeria’s Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, said on 27 October that he was no longer the political leader of his supporters and that they should recognise Nyesom Wike as their common leader. He was speaking at a rally held by the Rainbow coalition in Port Harcourt, according to Nigerian newspaper Vanguard.
At the event, Fubara unveiled the coalition’s candidates for the 2027 general elections and handed the flag of the APC, the All Progressives Congress, to Ogundu Kingsley Chinda, presented by Wike as his candidate for governor. Vanguard reports that Fubara thereby abandoned his support for his own bid for a second term.
Wike, Nigeria’s minister in charge of the Federal Capital Territory and a former governor of Rivers, formed the Rainbow coalition, which brings together six political parties. The rally at Yakubu Gowon Stadium brought together participants from the state’s 23 local government areas.
Fubara asked his supporters to stop calling him “their leader”, saying that coalition members now belonged to “one house”. His statement was followed by applause, according to Vanguard.
