According to a report by TVC News From 5:01, on Thursday, January 15, 2026, the political climate in Rivers State has hit a critical level of tension, sparking widespread commentary from prominent analysts throughout Nigeria. In a detailed evaluation of the situation, former Senator Shehu Sani of Kaduna State shared his perspective on the primary source of the conflict between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.
The former legislator argued that the State House of Assembly’s current attempt to remove the governor from office is unrelated to matters of public service or governance. Instead, he characterised it as the fallout of a fractured arrangement between a political patron and his protégé.
Senator Sani highlighted that this crisis serves as a quintessential example of Nigerian God fatherism. He emphasised that Nyesom Wike played a total role in Fubara’s rise to the governorship, having managed both the internal party nomination and the broader electoral campaign.
Nevertheless, the relationship soured when the expectation of complete subservience collided with the practicalities of holding executive office.
Sani observed that once an individual assumes the governorship, they gain control over the instruments of authority and instinctively move toward self-governance.
In his analysis of the impeachment notice issued by APC legislators, Sani maintained that the official justifications such as the improper presentation of the budget act as nothing more than a front. He proposed that the genuine motivation is the governor’s defiance against his former sponsor.
Sani stated, “If he was on good terms with his godfather, all this couldn’t have come. We know his politics. So you will always have a reason to justify another reason for doing something.”
The Senator further underlined that the ongoing volatility in Rivers State is essentially a personal struggle for dominance between Wike and Fubara.
He cautioned that the APC finds itself in a difficult position because both figures assert their commitment to President Tinubu. While Wike remains an influential minister, Fubara has officially joined the APC and enjoys significant support from his local ethnic base.
Sani ended his assessment by suggesting that only direct mediation can prevent the state from descending into deeper turmoil, asserting that the impeachment threat is a mechanism for political leverage rather than a genuine effort to address executive errors. See More
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