All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked reports about the defection of the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, from the race for the state’s governorship, saying the governor has been completely cleared from the allegations before his voluntary withdrawal.
According to Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, the National Chairman of APC, who debunked the report during an interview at Channels Television’s Politics Today program, the governor withdrew purely out of his own wish.
The Rivers State Governor caused quite a stir when he voluntarily withdrew from the APC primary for the sake of “peace and unity” of Rivers State on 20th May, 2026.
The reason behind this speculation was that the governor appeared quite sad and was reluctant to give any interviews after his screening process.
This speculation became stronger when the party’s screening committee not only rejected some members from his faction, but also cleared members that belong to another faction led by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Fubara stepped down for his own personal reasons, according to him.
Also, the APC Chairman disputed the popular belief that Wike was the one behind removing Fubara from contention in order to create room for his candidate, Chinda, whom he had wanted all along to win the ticket.
Yilwatda made sure to let viewers know how, despite his weight in the repositioning of politics in the state, the FCT Minister is not affiliated with the ruling party in any way.
Prior to withdrawing from the contest, he had promised to back whoever came through the primary process as winner.
In his absence, Kingsley Chinda won the party’s 2027 gubernatorial ticket with 268,497 votes.
