A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tonye Cole, has said that Rivers State governor Siminalayi Fubara will be stripped of any real authority when his six-month suspension is lifted.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, September 17, Cole said the governor would return to a weakened office.
“It’s extremely difficult, and I think the governor will be finding himself in a very difficult situation.
“First of all, the way politics has played out in Nigeria, almost every situation is that a governor, in leaving office, looks for somebody who he believes can continue whatever agenda they had moving forward.
“But time and time again, we find out that where the new governor or whoever has come in as governor is left alone to run his administration, then things progress.
“However, when such doesn’t happen…almost always we have ended up in this whole godfather-godson fight, and it’s never been good for democracy,” Cole said.
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He described Rivers as a state too important to be led by a governor without powers.
“We cannot be in a situation where we have an elected governor of a state, like Rivers State, which is a very critical state not just for the people of Rivers but Nigeria as a whole, and what you then see is that you have an elected governor that has zero powers. I don’t think it portends well at all,” he said.
Cole advised Fubara to seek an understanding with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, his predecessor and political rival.
“What I would do if I were him would be to now sit down with the honourable minister and appeal for some leeway to allow certain decisions to be taken by me as governor, and others to be taken by him, whatever peace agreement they had.
“The truth is that we do not know the details of that peace agreement, so I cannot tell the extent or the limits of the powers that he has now,” he said.
Fubara is due back in office on Thursday, September 18, 2025, when the emergency rule imposed by President Bola Tinubu expires.