Wike in fight-to-finish as Fubara’s camp digs deeper

Wike in fight-to-finish as Fubara’s camp digs deeper

The war over who controls Rivers State All Progressives Congress, APC, has entered a death-trap stretch. Former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has consequently launched a fight-to-finish political war, The Neighbourhood Newspaper can confirm. Between Friday when he arrived Rivers State, and Sunday, Mr. Wike had attended several public and private meetings to galvanise his supporters.

Wike, who is never late when it comes to cultivating his political strategies, is reportedly hosting the highest layer of his political foot-soldiers at his palatial Ada George Road, Port Harcourt, private residence. A source familiar with the schedules told this medium Sunday that such meetings are usually “strictly on invitation”. Wike’s Ada George private residence, in the Rivers State capital, is one of the most fortified and secure private homes in Nigeria.

Wike, known for his deft moves and tactical innuendos ahead of any election cycle, is only threading familair turf. In 2009, while yet serving as Chief of Staff, Rivers State Government House, while Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was still Governor, Wike launched his subtle governorship campaign by first hosting a billboard within the Abali Park Flyover. Only three words, NEW, boldly embossed, were the campaign graphics.

Over the recent developments, though Wike has publicly shown sterner confidence, our source described him as “a man full of worries considering the developments in his political constituency.”

The war between the Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara and Wike, rather than abate, is cutting deeper. The Neighbourhood gathered that Wike’s”biggest headache” is how to handle the matter of the defection of the Governor to the All Progressives Congress, APC. This medium learnt that Wike’s case was made worse by the fact that he played no key role in that development. Our source disclosed that whereas Wike would have loved to have taken Gov. Fubara to President Bola Tinubu in the full glare and klieglight of TV cameras from his partner media houses, some “younger hawks” in the Tinubu Administration outsmarted him. The source named Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, and “another younger Tinubu hawk who has Mr. President’s ears”, as among those who powered the deal that brought Gov. Fubara into APC. “If you had listened to Mr. Keyamo, you must have heard what he said, and how he said it. Keyamo had never been a Wike man”, the source added.

The Neighbourhood gathered that the deals the Presidency and the APC national leadership reached with Gov. Fubara, which include his seeking re-election in 2027, pre his switching party allegiance to the ruling party, and the arrangement to give him the State party leadership, have left Mr. Wike “desperate”. But The Neighbourhood was told by the source that Wike has been instructed to leave everything about APC in Rivers State to Gov. Fubara as for him(Wike) to focus on the “re-election of President Tinubu in 2027. As a result, Wike might be appointed President Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Organisation’s Director-General in 2026 against the 2027 presidential election.” But our source added that the “hawks were not yet sure whether Wike will accept that appointment.” It was further gathered that this design to appoint Wike the Presidential Campaign Director General is to further strengthen a “deal” that shall offer him a presidential ticket in 2031.

But back home, Wike still wants to exercise power in what happens in the party. With two by-elections for Rivers State House of Assembly Constituency on February 21, 2026, and APC’a Elective Congresses begining February, Wike is still fighting to entrench his hegemony across. However, he seems to be losing both the battle and the war.

There is no doubt that the national leadership of the APC and President Tinubu, our source stressed, prefer that Wike plays prominent role at the presidential campaign level while Gov. Fubara oversees Rivers APC, including those to be elected across Wards, local government and state level, yet Wike is said to be pushing for sharing of positions between him and Gov. Fubara. But it was gathered that “those guys who have President Tinubu’s ears seem to be fixed as who takes what in Rivers’ APC.” According to our source, the idea is that Gov. Fubara holds the State party structure. The argument here is if Wike was allowed to control the party’s state structure, it would be absurd since he is not a member of the party. By APC’s organisational nomenclature, Gov. Fubara, as an incumbent Governor, is the leader of the party in the state.

Already, the celebration of Christmas marked a proper time for both camps to reach out to their respective support base. Rallies were held in some instances by each side. Gov. Fubara enjoys widespread support among key youth leaders. “Abuja knows that Gov. Fubara enjoys popularity across the state. We know that the youth support him maybe because he is still one of them”, our source noted, adding, “We don’t want to lose that.”

As both sides build their strategies as 2026 approaches, it is obvious that Wike is in a real fight-to-finish. With prominent Rivers’ youths who enjoy widespread support standing with Fubara, Wike is steadily losing it. But he is not a man known to give up easily. Even if he was the last man standing, Wike would want to fight to the end.