Politics

Wike’s Loyalist Resigns As Fubara’s Chief Of Staff

Published

2 years ago

January 11, 2024

Chidi Amadi, the Chief of Staff to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, has resigned.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, confirmed Amadi’s resignation to The PUNCH on Wednesday.

Johnson said Fubara would announce a replacement for Amadi, a loyalist of ex-governor Nyesom Wike, at the appropriate time.

“The former Chief of Staff, Hon Chidi Amadi, has resigned. The governor will announce another Chief of Staff at the appropriate time.

“It is the prerogative of the governor to appoint when he wants it. He will tell us and we will announce it and you will also get the release to that effect,” he said.

Efforts to reach Amadi were unsuccessful as he neither answered several calls put across to his mobile line by our correspondent nor replied to WhatsApp and text messages sent to him on Wednesday night.

Amadi is Wike’s kinsman from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. His resignation brings to 10, the number of Wike’s loyalists who have left Fubara’s administration since the beginning of the political crisis between Fubara and his estanged political godfather, Wike. Amadi’s resignation comes on the heels of calls on Fubara to appoint a former factional Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, as Chief of Staff.

On January 3, the Ijaw Youth Council, Worldwide, called on Fubara to appoint Ehie as the Chief of Staff in compensation for standing by the government at the height of a plot by 27 lawmakers loyal to ex-governor Nyesom Wike to impeach Fubara.

The PUNCH reports that the plot to impeach Fubara led to the factionalisation of the Rivers State House of Assembly, with Ehie leading four members, while Martin Amaewhule, led 26 pro-Wike lawmakers.

In December, Fubara shunned the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers and presented the 2024 budget to the five-member Ehie faction, which passed the budget on December 13.

However, following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, Fubara, as part of an eight-point resolution reached at Aso Rock in Abuja, was asked to recognise the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers and take the budget back to them for passage.

Weeks after the Abuja meeting, Ehie resigned his membership of the House of Assembly, writing the Independent National Electoral Commission that he ceased to be a Rivers lawmaker.

Though Ehie did not give any specific reason for resigning, Fubara, speaking days later, said Ehie’s exit was part of calculated moves to give peace a chance and resolve the political crisis engulfing the state.

On Tuesday, the Amaewhue-led Assembly, during its plenary at the Assembly quarters along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, called on Fubara to bring the 2024 budget for fresh passage, saying the state was being run without a budget.

But as of Wednesday, Fubara had yet to comment on the request of the lawmakers, even as no state government official had reacted to the statement which may signal another round of crisis in the state.

Politics

What PDP Said About Wike’s Media Parley

Published

11 hours ago

December 29, 2025

Editor

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, of being a constant agent of provocation in the political space, alleging that he creates trouble to mask selfish intentions.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, stated this in a statement issued on Monday in response to Wike’s media parley with selected journalists in Port Harcourt, also held on Monday.

According to the PDP, remarks made by the minister on several occasions are proof that he falls short of being a locus classicus of anti-democratic adventurism.

The party said Wike’s conduct was not new, stressing that he has consistently acted as an agent provocateur in the political arena, stirring controversy to advance personal interests.

The PDP further stated that since Wike assumed office as Governor of Rivers State in 2015, he has remained a recurrent source of trouble within the party’s leadership.

“From the Sheriff era, where he was a forerunner in the Sheriff-for-National Chairman movement and later turned to fight and remove Sheriff; later he championed the Uche Secondus-for-National Chairman movement (in fact, he granted a very combustible interview that polarized the party just before the convention) and then was the same person fighting to remove Secondus.

“The same Wike led the movement to produce Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as National Chairman against the advice of many party leaders, and so soon thereafter, it was Wike again who led the Ayu-must-go struggle.

“By his end-of-year media chat, Minister Nyesom Wike has reiterated his support for, and in fact declared that he is the ‘number one supporter’ of the presumptive candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 Presidential election, while remaining a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, confirming the basis of his expulsion from the PDP, for anti-party activities,” the statement said.

Politics

JUST IN: INEC Excludes PDP From Ekiti Governorship Election

Published

13 hours ago

December 29, 2025

Editor

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2026 Ekiti governorship election, Dr Wole Oluyede, and his deputy were conspicuously absent as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released the provisional list of party candidates ahead of the election.

INEC on Monday posted the list of candidates from 12 political parties vying for the state’s top job at its office on New Iyin Road, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

The list shows that the All Progressives Congress, APC, is fielding the incumbent governor, Biodun Oyebanji, with Monisade Afuye as his running mate.

Other candidates include Opeyemi Falegan of the Accord Party, with Omoyemi Olaleye as deputy; Akande Oluwasegun of the African Action Congress, paired with Oluwasanmi Fajuyigbe; and Ayodeji Ojo of the Action Democratic Party, with Itunu Ibitoye as running mate.

Similarly, the African Democratic Congress is presenting Oluwadare Bejide and Paul Olowoyeye, while the Action Peoples Party has Bidemi Awogbemi and Akinyemi Adewumi on its ticket.

The PDP’s absence may not be unconnected with the leadership crisis currently rocking the party at the national level.

Politics

Wike Speaks On Defecting To APC

Published

17 hours ago

December 29, 2025

Editor

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, dismissed any possibility of dumping the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Wike, however, disclosed that a lot of PDP leaders will join him if he decides to defect to the APC.

The Minister, who spoke during his media chat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said: “Today, if I say that I want to go to APC that will be the end of even talking about it.

“You will see other states, joining, leaders in other states joining, I’m not a leader that’s concentrated in the state. No.

“If today I say gentlemen, we have had enough of PDP we have to move, watch those who will decamp in Benue, Plateau, Abia, Edo.”

The Minister also declared that he is still a member of the PDP, hence Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State is unhappy.

“I’m a member of the PDP, that’s why I’m still there and Seyi is not happy. That’s not correct, that you are a member of the assembly or council Chairman or National Assembly does not mean that there is no other person,” he added.