Fubara’s Defection a Case of Self-Inflicted Injury – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says Governor Siminalayi Fubara‘s defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is a case of self-inflicted injury as the governor “willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination.”

PDP’s spokesperson, Comrade Ini Ememobong, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

According to Ememobong, the Rivers State governor’s defection was “pitiful”, stating that the governor’s defection “is an exemplar of the old legal maxim Volenti non fit injuria, meaning “to one who is willing, no harm can be done”.

The opposition spokesman also added that Fubara “willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination” and should not accuse the PDP of abandoning or not protecting him.

“Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group of abandoning or not protecting him,” Ememobong stated.

“Whilst a person who is at a crossroad of threats of existential proportion will most likely suffer from temporary amnesia caused by trauma, 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,

“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.”

Ememobong also accused influential political actors within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of using federal power to suppress opposition figures and distort democratic processes, following the defection of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara to the APC.

Fubara’s defection, according to Ememobong, “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.”

He added that “democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms.

“We reiterate to Nigerians and the global community that 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.”

Governor Fubara, in a short post on X, announced his decision to join the ruling party, APC, and linked it to his recent meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He said he and Rivers State stakeholders resolved to align with President Bola Tinubu and join the APC.