ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has defended his exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying he left because the party failed to protect him during the height of the state’s political turmoil.
Fubara formally announced his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Port Harcourt, marking a major political shift in the state’s ongoing power struggle.
Addressing stakeholders, the governor said his survival in office was made possible only by President Bola Tinubu’s intervention.
He described his move to the APC as an expression of gratitude and a strategic alignment with the presidency.
“What you all have been waiting for, what you have been asking me—the signal has finally arrived,” Fubara stated.
“We have the positive nod to leave where we are because we didn’t get any protection to go to where we are going.”
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He added: “The reason why we are still standing is because of that place, and the truth is, without Mr. President, there wouldn’t be any His Excellency Siminalayi Fubara; it would have been former governor.”
Fubara said joining the ruling party was the only way to offer genuine support to the President.
“Our only ‘thank you’ to Mr. President is to support him, and we cannot support the President in isolation,” he said.
“Everyone who has followed me, who has suffered with me—our decision today is that we are moving to the APC.”
The governor’s defection comes four days after Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, and 17 other lawmakers dumped the PDP for the APC, citing the party’s deepening internal crisis.
Their move triggered mounting expectations and pressure on the governor to also realign with the ruling party, especially as political tensions in the state intensified.