Governor Siminalayi Joseph Fubara of Rivers State has taken the controversy over the delayed passage of the state’s 2026 appropriation bill of N1,854,248,734,475.76 to his political godfather, Chief Nyesom Wike, in a fresh move to break the impasse with the State House of Assembly.
The executive session, hosted at Wike’s private domicile in Port Harcourt, occurred amid rising anxiety regarding the reluctance of the pro-Wike legislators to enact the financial plan weeks after its official submission by the state chief executive.
Fubara was said to have visited the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, alongside his cousin from Opobo and an elder statesman in Rivers State, to discuss several troubling issues affecting his administration.
Also present at the meeting were two senior members of the Wike-led Rainbow Coalition, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, Chairman of the coalition’s Reconciliation Committee, and Hon. Kingsley Chinda, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state.
TPCN reports that two major issues were tabled during the three-hour meeting: the continued delay in the passage of the 2026 budget and the proposed composition of the Rainbow Coalition campaign team for the 2027 elections.
The Rainbow Coalition, an amalgam of different political parties and pressure groups, is being driven by Wike as the main political vehicle in Rivers ahead of the next general elections.
The alliance is reported to encompass at least 15 political entities and affiliated pressure groups, including Rivers Women Unite for SIM, RWUS, the latest group to align with the bloc.
The coalition is also queuing behind the APC, principally for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the election of its candidates across different levels in Rivers State.
Informants holding insider knowledge of the deliberations noted that Fubara expressed dissatisfaction over the detrimental fallout of the prolonged delay in passing the “Budget of Resilience for Growth and Development,” arguing that the stalemate was slowing the delivery of democratic dividends to Rivers people.
After months of political hostilities with Wike, Fubara, who finally submitted to the Wike-led political family in May 2026, was also said to have complained about the delayed inauguration of the newly renovated Rivers State House of Assembly complex in Port Harcourt.
The legislative facility, which was purportedly damaged by an unexplained fire during the peak of the 2023 political turmoil, had been restored and slated for commissioning over a week ago within the governor’s 13-day state-wide project unveiling schedule.
But the event, which was expected to come with pomp and pageantry, was put off indefinitely after the pro-Wike 27 lawmakers reportedly opted to boycott it unless their demands for what sources described as an extended political handshake were met.
Prior to the assembly granting approval for the state’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, for 2026 to 2028, each of the 27 lawmakers allegedly received N400 million. They were also said to have received another N600 million at the presentation of the 2026 budget.
In total, each representative allegedly collected N1 billion, totaling N27 billion for the 27-member faction, with informants asserting that transactions were executed using foreign currencies, specifically dollars and pounds.
Yet, the lawmakers are reportedly demanding an additional N500 million each, which would raise the total to N1.5 billion for each of them.
Fubara, described by insiders as a shrewd accountant, was said to have insisted on the earlier agreement of N1 billion for each lawmaker, which he had allegedly fulfilled.
The governor was said to have pleaded with Wike to urgently intervene and resolve the impasse amicably so that the budget could be passed without further delay.
Details obtained indicated that Wike, who is believed to be desirous of peaceful and hitch-free electioneering campaigns in Rivers State, promised to wade into the friction between the executive and legislative arms of government.
Before departing for Abuja, Wike was reported to have summoned the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly, headed by Speaker Martins Amaewhule, to his residence.
It could not be immediately ascertained whether the meeting with the lawmakers took place or what the outcome was.
However, indications suggest that the fiscal document, whose evaluation and scrutiny had reportedly been concluded, may finally be passed in the next few days.
It was also at the same meeting that the proposed list of members of the 2027 election campaign team was presented to Fubara for his input, especially as it affects members of his own political group who are expected to be accommodated under the same Rainbow Coalition Campaign Team.
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The campaign team is expected to have more than 80 members drawn from the 23 local government areas of the state, voluntary pressure groups and political parties. Its mandate is to ensure victory for President Tinubu and all candidates of the coalition in the 2027 elections.
Inquiries revealed that the suggested Rainbow Coalition Campaign structure is predominantly populated by political figures from riverine local councils, where resistance to the emergence of Chinda, another Ikwerre native, as the APC governorship flag bearer, is reported to be intensifying.
From all indications, the battle to market Chinda as successor to Fubara may not be an easy one. Fubara is the only riverine governor to emerge after 24 years of upland domination of the Brick House, Port Harcourt, under Dr. Peter Odili, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Nyesom Wike. The resentment among several riverine communities is reported to stem from multiple factors.
Some are said to be unhappy over what they see as the denial of Fubara’s chance to run a complete two-term administration, the frustration and distraction of his first tenure, and the possibility of another Ikwerre man replacing him in quick succession.
Although the APC deputy governorship candidate, Major M. Jack, the current Majority Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, hails from Abonnema and is Kalabari of Ijaw extraction, the same ethnic bloc as Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, the governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, that has not fully quieted concerns in the riverine areas.
Coincidentally, the deputy governorship candidate of the NDC, Dr. Mike Barieenee Nwielaghi, comes from the same Ogoni axis as the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Dr. Gabriel Pidomson.
Pidomson, a strong supporter and loyalist of the ADC vice-presidential candidate, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, picked Okumgba David Amapakaye from Okrika Local Government Area as his running mate. The unfolding calculations show that the Rivers 2027 contest is no longer only about party labels.
It is also about geography, old wounds, ethnic balance, coalition discipline and whether the Wike political family can hold together after years of internal war.
For Fubara, the trip to Wike’s residence was both administrative and political. Administratively, he needs the N1.854 trillion budget passed to fund governance, projects and services.
Politically, he needs a place for his loyalists inside the Rainbow Coalition’s campaign structure as the state moves toward another high-stakes election.
But the meeting also confirms a hard political reality in Rivers State: the budget may sit before the House of Assembly, but the final settlement appears to rest with the man who still commands the coalition behind the lawmakers.
Whichever way, the days ahead will determine whether the budget deadlock will finally be resolved, whether Fubara’s supporters will find comfort inside the coalition, and which direction the political pendulum will swing as Rivers marches toward 2027.
