The Peoples Democratic Party has reacted to the defection of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, describing his move to the All Progressives Congress as “pitiful” and a troubling sign for Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, December 9, and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the party said it received news of the governor’s exit with disappointment.
According to the statement, “The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has received the news of the formal defection of His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara the Governor of Rivers State from our Party to the ruling party.
“This news as pitiful as it is, is an exemplar of the old legal maxim Volenti non fit injuria, meaning ‘to one who is willing, no harm can be done’.”
The party argued that Governor Fubara consciously embraced the political path that led to his defection.
“Everyone who has followed the developments that culminated in this uneventful defection, will recall that the Governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination,” the PDP stated.
It added that by making such a choice, “he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group of abandoning or not protecting him.”
While accusing Fubara of suffering “temporary amnesia caused by trauma,” the PDP maintained that the governor should have “nothing less than praise for our party, civil society organisations, and all Nigerians who freely stood up in his defence since this crisis started until he capitulated.”
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The statement further cautioned that it was the party’s prayer that Fubara “should not suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor,” noting that “despite these, we pity the Governor and wish him well.”
The PDP also linked the development to deeper structural problems in Nigeria’s political system.
It said, “the Rivers situation is a testament to the dysfunctional nature of our democracy, where individuals are bigger and stronger than institutions and can use the apparatus of the Federal Government to obfuscate political life out of their opponents and bring them to their knees.”
The party warned that such actions endanger the country’s democratic foundations, insisting that “democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms.”
It concluded by alleging that the ruling party is steadily pushing Nigeria toward authoritarian rule.
“Finally, we reiterate to Nigerians and the global community that with the unrelenting disposition of the ruling party towards the attainment of a one-party state, and the constriction of the political space, democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria.
“Everyone must rise together to oppose this ignoble trip toward electoral authoritarianism.”