Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has made a striking declaration about the state’s current Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
Amaechi, who also served as the Governor of Rivers State from 2007 to 2015, stated that Fubara’s popularity is not due to his policies or governance but rather his opposition to Nyesom Wike, the former Governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
READ ALSO: Rivers State: Why is Fubara sleeping on the Investigative Panel?
Amaechi expressed his views during a visit to Okorinama West, a leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Port Harcourt. He emphasized that he would remain neutral and not support either Fubara or Wike in their political rivalry. “A lot of our supporters who can’t stand hunger have joined either Sim or Wike. I will not join them. I will not join Sim, I will not join Wike,” Amaechi remarked.
He further elaborated on the dynamics of political popularity in Rivers State, attributing Fubara’s rise in popularity to the public’s fatigue with Wike’s administration. “What Sim thinks is popular today is because he is anti-Wike. That is his popularity, not that Sim is the best man that has happened on earth. It is because he is anti-Wike and it is because the state is tired of Wike,” Amaechi explained.
The political landscape in Rivers State has been tumultuous, with the rift between Fubara and Wike leading to a polarization within the Rivers House of Assembly. In December 2023, 27 members of the assembly loyal to Wike defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.