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Samuel Ogidan, Abuja
In a stunning political twist, the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has confirmed that His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, has formally defected from the PDP to the ruling party.
The news, though disheartening, has drawn sharp remarks from the PDP.
“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 stated.
PDP, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said that anyone who has followed the chain of events leading up to the Governor’s defection will recognise that he willingly chose this path.
“Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group of abandoning or not protecting him,” the party added.
The PDP noted that while individuals at a crossroad facing existential threats may temporarily forget past support due to trauma, the Governor owes gratitude to the party.
“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,” PDP stated.
The party expressed a mixture of pity and caution, remarking, “It is our prayer that the Governor should not suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor. In all, despite these, we pity the Governor and wish him well.”
Beyond the personal drama of the Governor’s defection, the PDP framed the Rivers situation as a glaring example of the fragility of Nigerian democracy.
“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 said.
The PDP warned that such acts imperil democratic principles and called for unified opposition from all well-meaning citizens, adding, “democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms.”
The party reiterated its broader concern over the state of Nigeria’s democracy under the ruling party.
“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,” the PDP said.
