he Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, lost the opportunity to seek a second term after choosing political confrontation over the structure that brought him to power.
Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja, during the August edition of his monthly media chat, Wike maintained that he repeatedly warned Fubara against abandoning the political family that backed his emergence as governor in 2023.
“I said, look, don’t derail. I came as governor, I had crisis. When I came as governor, there was nothing. They didn’t even relocate the Government House,” Wike said.
The former Rivers governor recalled inheriting an administration with virtually no official vehicles, saying he borrowed ceremonial vehicles from former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, before rebuilding the Government House and providing official vehicles for top state officials.
According to him, Fubara ought to have built on that foundation instead of dismantling it.
“Somebody had laid a foundation. Look, this is where I stopped. If you continue this way, our dream is to be able to compete with Lagos. What is wrong with that?” he asked.
Wike alleged that politicians who initially opposed Fubara’s emergence later became his closest allies and encouraged him to challenge those who facilitated his rise.
“At the end of the fight, I have not lost anything. What have I lost? Nothing. But you have lost. Your intention was to go for a second term, is it not correct? And you are not going,” he said.
Responding to a question on whether he still loved Fubara, Wike said, “If I don’t love him, why would we support him?”
He disclosed that both camps at one point agreed to reconcile but said the effort collapsed after political considerations emerged.
“There was a time we all thought, we all agreed, and said, ‘Look, can we allow bygones to be bygones?’ But something fundamental came up in politics,” he said.
The FCT minister also accused unnamed external interests of attempting to hijack Rivers State for financial gain, alleging that some influential lawyers and political actors misled Fubara with faulty legal advice while enjoying privileged access to government.
“There are external forces who want to hijack Rivers State. There are those who see Rivers State as a cash cow,” Wike alleged.
The political rift between Wike and Fubara erupted months after the governor assumed office in 2023, leading to a prolonged power struggle involving the Rivers State House of Assembly and culminating in President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a six-month state of emergency in March 2025.
Following his reinstatement, Fubara defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Although he initially obtained nomination forms to contest the APC governorship primary for a second term, he withdrew from the race in May 2026. He later joined the Wike-led Rainbow Coalition and endorsed the coalition’s preferred governorship candidate for the 2027 election.
Wike said the outcome vindicated his earlier warnings, insisting that Fubara’s decision to wage what he described as a political war ultimately ended his second-term ambition.
