‘Fubara Was Scapegoated, While Other APC Govs Got Automatic Ticket’ – Idam

Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has said Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was made a scapegoat while other governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were rewarded with automatic tickets.

Naija News reports that Idam said it was humiliating that Fubara was denied the same privilege despite publicly supporting President Bola Tinubu.

He spoke in an interview with the Daily Post while reacting to Fubara’s withdrawal from the 2027 governorship race.

Idam said the governor’s situation was worsened by the fact that many APC governors were allowed to seek re-election without resistance.

“What makes the situation even more humiliating is that several governors within the All Progressives Congress were rewarded with automatic tickets, while Fubara was only scapegoated and denied the same privilege despite publicly chanting ‘On your mandate’ in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

The lawyer said Nigerians should be more concerned about the state of the economy than politicians securing second-term tickets.

Idam further stated, “To me, however, the automatic tickets granted to many APC governors represent rewards for hard times. Nigerians should be mourning the state of the economy rather than celebrating politicians securing second-term tickets, especially when the country’s economic condition has deteriorated severely under the ruling party.

“It is sincerely painful and disheartening that Nigeria has found itself in such an inglorious condition.”

Idam said Fubara’s withdrawal from the race could mark a major decline in his political relevance.

According to him, the governor could have remained politically relevant if he had recorded major achievements in office.

The lawyer stated, “Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s political career can arguably be said to have passed into the dark pages of history, where glory does not live, following his withdrawal from the 2027 governorship race. His political relevance might have endured if he had recorded sterling achievements during his time in office.

“Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. It is difficult to point to any truly life-changing project or people-oriented programme undertaken by him for which he would be remembered after leaving office.”

The lawyer said Fubara’s concern may now shift from political ambition to what happens after he leaves office.

Idam said, “He now risks fading quietly into political obscurity, precisely where his oppressors may have always wanted him to be.

“At this point, his greatest concern may no longer be political ambition, but his fate after leaving office: whether those opposed to him will allow him to fade quietly from the scene or unleash the machinery of anti-graft agencies against him, further damaging his image before the Rivers people.”

Idam said he was worried about Nigeria’s political system and how it allegedly allows oppression to thrive.

“As a concerned Nigerian, I worry deeply about how the nation’s laws and political structures appear skewed in ways that permit such blatant political oppression, while citizens remain helpless observers, able only to analyse events without the power to resist intimidation and suppression carried out in broad daylight,” he said.