Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has publicly declared his support for the Rainbow Coalition, a political alliance backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Fubara made the declaration on Wednesday during the inauguration of the Rivers Medical Industries Project in Port Harcourt.
At the event, the governor also endorsed the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Kingsley Chinda, as his preferred successor ahead of the next governorship election.
The endorsement signals a major political development in Rivers State, further strengthening the alliance between Fubara and Wike following months of political realignments.
“We have made peace in the state, and we have a total agreement,” he said.
“I am supporting our rainbow party, our rainbow coalition. President Bola Tinubu is our president and is the one we are supporting.
“OK Chinda is the governorship candidate that I am supporting, and anybody who believes in me will support him and every candidate under the rainbow.
“For those of you saying, ‘Fubara, let’s stay, we want to collect something before we run,’ there is nothing to collect. I am already in the family. I have gone back to our family. So please, wherever you are, give your total support to that coalition.”
Chinda, a former minority leader of the green chamber and sole contestant, was declared the winner of the APC governorship primary after polling 268,497 during the exercise in May.
Fubara was initially screened alongside Chinda for the APC governorship primary but later stepped down from the race, saying he made the decision out of conviction and sacrifice for the peace and unity of Rivers state.
The APC screening committee reportedly disqualified several of Fubara’s allies from the Rivers state house of assembly primaries while clearing aspirants loyal to Wike.
Fubara and Wike had been locked in a prolonged political feud that triggered efforts by lawmakers loyal to the FCT minister to impeach the governor before both camps eventually reached a political truce.
