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| Nyesom Wike |
In a carefully staged meeting that underscores the shifting alliances of Rivers State politics, Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike on Monday urged supporters of Governor Siminalayi Fubara to deliver overwhelming votes for President Bola Tinubu in 2027. Speaking in Port Harcourt to youth leaders and Fubara-aligned figures, Wike tied electoral loyalty directly to tangible returns: more federal appointments, continued infrastructure projects, and elevated influence for the oil-rich state in national affairs.
“All I want to hear in this state is Tinubu and nothing but Tinubu. If we play the role we are playing now, and we are one of the first three states that get the highest number of votes, we will get more of the appointments,” Wike declared. He pointed to existing high-profile federal appointments for Rivers indigenes under the Tinubu administration and projects such as the Bonny road as proof of reciprocity already underway.
“We are talking for survival and growth,” he added, directing grassroots youth leaders to return to their local government areas and prepare for mobilisation. “I am not going to be governor again; this is for your own interest. I want this state to grow. I want this state to play an important role in the politics of Nigeria.”
The gathering forms part of a broader reconciliation process that has accelerated in recent weeks. It followed a closed-door meeting the previous day at Fubara’s private residence, where Wike led a large delegation that included Rivers State House of Assembly members under Speaker Martin Amaewhule, the 23 local government chairmen, and APC governorship aspirant Kingsley Chinda. That engagement itself built on an earlier October 6 meeting involving Wike, Chinda, and Fubara’s camp. Together, these sessions signal an attempt to convert a bitter, multi-year feud into a unified electoral machine under the banner of the Rainbow Coalition.
From Open War to Calculated Peace
The backdrop is one of the most disruptive state-level political crises of the Tinubu era. After Wike installed Fubara as his successor in 2023, relations deteriorated rapidly. The conflict engulfed the Rivers State House of Assembly, produced repeated impeachment attempts against the governor, and culminated in President Tinubu’s declaration of a six-month state of emergency in March 2025.
Elected officials were temporarily suspended and an administrator appointed before restoration. The crisis paralysed governance, damaged investor confidence in a critical oil-producing state, and divided political structures that had previously operated with remarkable cohesion under Wike’s long dominance of Rivers politics.
By mid-2026, the contours of a settlement had emerged. Fubara publicly declared peace, endorsed the Rainbow Coalition, and signalled he would not seek a second term. He threw his weight behind Chinda (a former House of Representatives Minority Leader who moved into the APC orbit) as the coalition’s preferred governorship candidate. Wike, for his part, has repeatedly insisted the dispute was never personal and has framed ongoing engagement as family reconciliation rather than surrender. In recent statements he has blamed external actors, including certain governors, for exacerbating the rift, while emphasising that Fubara remains an active participant in the coalition’s structures.
Monday’s meeting with Fubara’s youth and grassroots supporters represents the public, mobilisation-facing phase of this realignment.
Former Port Harcourt Mayor Ezebunwo Ichemati, speaking on behalf of the governor’s camp, confirmed Fubara’s awareness and endorsement of the session. He described it as a turning point that would transform past divisions into electoral force. Framing the crisis as a family dispute that had now been resolved, Ichemati pledged full support for Tinubu and for Chinda under the Rainbow Coalition. “What you see here today will transform into a force that will deliver,” he said, adding that the youths who had been embroiled in the earlier conflict would now work together.
Political Calculus and the Rainbow Coalition
Wike’s message is characteristically transactional and clear-eyed. Rivers delivered for Tinubu in 2023 under difficult circumstances; continued and expanded delivery, he argues, is the surest route to sustained federal attention. The promise of more appointments is particularly resonant in a state where political patronage remains a central currency of loyalty. By positioning the state among the top three vote-getters for Tinubu, Wike is effectively offering a performance-based contract: deliver the numbers, and the dividends will follow in the form of jobs, projects, and influence.
The Rainbow Coalition itself is designed as a cross-party vehicle. It seeks to aggregate structures from the APC, residual PDP elements, and other platforms around support for Tinubu’s re-election while fielding candidates for state and federal legislative seats. Wike has defended the arrangement as pragmatic leadership rather than contradiction, pointing to similar patterns elsewhere in the country. For Rivers, the coalition’s success hinges on whether the reconciliation at the elite level can translate into genuine grassroots cohesion after years of polarisation, street-level tension, and competing claims of legitimacy.
Chinda’s emergence as the preferred governorship face is central to this architecture. With Fubara stepping aside from a second-term bid, the coalition avoids an open intra-family contest while retaining the machinery that Wike built over two terms as governor and that Fubara partially inherited. Whether this arrangement fully satisfies Fubara’s remaining loyalists—or leaves residual grievances that opposition forces can exploit—will become clearer as campaigns intensify.
Broader Implications for 2027 and Rivers’ Future
Rivers State’s political weight extends far beyond its borders. As a major oil producer and the economic hub of the Niger Delta, its electoral performance and post-election stability matter for national revenue, security, and the Tinubu administration’s narrative of delivery. Wike’s aggressive mobilisation—town hall meetings across local governments, engagement with traditional rulers, and now direct outreach to Fubara’s base—reflects an understanding that early consolidation reduces the risk of late defections or low-turnout surprises.
Yet the reconciliation remains incomplete in the eyes of some observers. Public smiles and joint appearances do not automatically erase the scars of emergency rule, legislative warfare, or the personal and financial costs borne by supporters on both sides. The test will be whether the youth leaders Wike addressed on Monday can genuinely reorient their networks toward a common ticket, and whether the promise of appointments and projects materialises in ways that ordinary Rivers residents can feel.
Wike’s insistence that he seeks no further governorship for himself is both a personal disclaimer and a strategic signal: the project is larger than any single individual. By casting the effort as being “for your own interest” and for the state’s growth, he is attempting to reframe past conflict as a costly distraction from the real prize—sustained relevance in Abuja and developmental returns for Rivers.
Monday’s meeting will not be the last of its kind. As the 2027 cycle gathers pace, further consultations, ward-level organising, and public endorsements are expected. For now, the message from Port Harcourt is unambiguous: unity behind Tinubu is being sold as the rational path to influence, appointments, and infrastructure. Whether that bargain holds, and whether it delivers the growth Wike promises, will shape Rivers politics—and the national contest—for the next several years.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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