By Azuh Arinze
Never seen such a lame duck, weakling governor as this Fubara of a guy. You are sitting there like a handcuffed person, waiting for Tinubu to come and save you. It means you never learnt anything during your six-month political hiatus. See how they are tossing you up and down like a primary school boy. Perhaps, it would even be a better option to impeach him. I just pity Rivers people who have been at the receiving end of negative news from the state in the past two years. Phew. – Richard Akinnola (journalist and activist)
As I pointed out in my earlier intervention, I am not a fan of Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory and troubler of Rivers State.
Now to the crux of this latest intervention – Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers State and Wike’s godson.
Politics, lest he has forgotten, is a ruthless teacher. It offers lessons freely but punishes stubborn students mercilessly. Fubara, put succinctly, has obstinately refused to learn. The reason he is still being dealt with by Wike and the Rivers State House of Assembly.
From the beginning of his tenure, he was handed a rare opportunity, which, unfortunately, he has now messed up. If nothing else, history placed him in a privileged position to govern with caution, tact, and political intelligence. Tragically, that advantage has been recklessly squandered.
His first major misstep was going into a battle he wasn’t really prepared and ready for. Escaping an initial impeachment attempt, thanks largely to the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should have been a moment of deep reflection: a pause to reassess alliances, rebuild bridges, and recalibrate his leadership style. Alas, Fubara never did.
What followed, expectedly, has been a chain of avoidable confrontations, unnecessary brinkmanship, and a dangerous overestimation of personal leverage.
Governance in a complex state like Rivers is not a solo performance; it is a carefully managed orchestra of political, institutional, ethnic and economic interests. Lamentably, Fubara has too often chosen confrontation over consultation, defiance over diplomacy, decisiveness over docility and emotion over strategy.
His two other grave errors are the sustained alienation of critical political stakeholders and then refusing to be his own man. Power blocs do not disappear simply because a governor wishes them away. Political structures are also not dismantled by stubbornness alone. Regrettably, instead of weakening opposition forces, his actions have continued to unify them – giving adversaries clearer purpose and renewed motivation.
Equally troubling is his apparent failure to read the mood of the legislature. A governor who treats lawmakers as expendable obstacles rather than constitutional partners is merely rehearsing his own downfall.
Impeachment threats do not materialize out of thin air; they grow where mistrust, exclusion, and arrogance are allowed to fester – just like we are now witnessing in Rivers State.
Leadership also demands timing, restraint, and the humility to retreat when necessary. Fubara’s insistence on charging ahead as though political consequences are optional suggests a man either poorly advised or dangerously convinced of his own invincibility.
Nigerian politics has buried many leaders who assumed the system would blink first.
The looming impeachment, therefore, is not a tragedy – it is a consequence. It is also the product of ignored warnings, burned bridges, and lessons left unlearned, especially when dealing with a combustible and cantankerous godfather like Wike. You cannot touch fire twice and still demand pity for your burns. You cannot walk into the same trap repeatedly and blame fate for the outcome.
This is not to suggest that the political environment is fair or that power struggles are ever clean. Far from it. But politics rewards those who adapt. It protects those who listen. And it punishes those who confuse stubbornness with strength.
In the event that the worst happens, history will not record Fubara solely as a victim of circumstance. It will equally remember him as a leader who was given a second chance – and he treated it lackadaisically.
And so, no pity for Fubara. Not because politics lacks mercy, but because he has consistently refused its wisdom.
Azuh Arinze, FNGE, is the publisher/editor-in-chief of YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine and book author.
Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of QEDNG.
