“You Willingly Travelled This Path, Don’t Blame Us,” PDP Tells Fubara

The Peoples Democratic Party has rejected Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s claim that he left the party because it failed to protect him, insisting he alone shaped the political choices that led to his defection to the All Progressives Congress.

Fubara announced his switch at a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt, where he said, “We didn’t get the protection we expected where we were.” He argued that the lack of support influenced his decision to align with the ruling party.

In a statement signed by National Publicity Secretary Ini Ememobong, the PDP countered that the governor’s explanation does not reflect the events that preceded his departure. “Everyone who has followed the developments that culminated in this defection will recall that the governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination,” the party said. “Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group, of abandoning or failing to protect him.”

Party officials said they were surprised by his remarks, noting that civil society groups, citizens, and party members had openly defended him during the state’s political crisis. “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,” the statement added.

The PDP said the episode reflects a deeper structural problem in Nigeria’s democratic system. It pointed to what it described as the growing ability of powerful individuals to overwhelm institutions and use federal influence to pressure political opponents. “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 suppress opponents,” the party wrote.

It accused the APC of working toward shrinking political competition and urged citizens to resist any attempt to narrow the country’s democratic space. “With the unrelenting disposition of the ruling party toward the attainment of a one-party state, democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria. Everyone must rise together to oppose this path toward electoral authoritarianism,” the statement concluded.