President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Professor Benjamin Okaba, has said there’s nothing wrong if suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, defects from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), especially if it will help end the lingering political crisis in the state.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Thursday, Okaba weighed in on speculation surrounding Fubara’s recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos — a meeting that has triggered widespread rumours of an imminent defection to the APC.
Responding to the controversy, Okaba said bluntly,“There’s nothing wrong about that.”
He argued that political ideology no longer plays a meaningful role in Nigeria’s political system, describing the current landscape as a “malutocracy.”
“At this point we must be realistic, and we must have an understanding of the Nigerian politics. We operate a ‘malutocracy’; we don’t have political parties anymore, but platforms for political contestations.
“What we have are just platforms put together from people to transmit or oscillate from one place to another. If we have state governors and former vice presidential candidates of parties just moving on, to the extent that one of the governors said, ‘If you don’t move with me, I will sack you.’”
Okaba also referenced Fubara’s previous declaration that he would do anything to restore peace in Rivers, suggesting that a party switch should be seen as a strategic move toward political stability.
It would be recalled that President Tinubu, on March 18, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State. He also suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy Dr. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the State House of Assembly for six months.
To fill the leadership vacuum, Tinubu appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas as interim administrator to steer the affairs of the state.
