{"id":127192,"date":"2026-05-21T18:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=127192"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:17:10","slug":"rivers-guber-your-withdrawal-act-of-cowardice-huriwa-tells-fubara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/rivers-guber-your-withdrawal-act-of-cowardice-huriwa-tells-fubara\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivers Guber: Your withdrawal, Act of Cowardice, HURIWA Tells\u00a0 Fubara"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the withdrawal of Siminalayi Fubara from the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the move as an act of political cowardice and a dangerous surrender to alleged political intimidation and godfatherism in Rivers State.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the rights group said Governor Fubara\u2019s claim that he withdrew in the interest of \u201cpeace and unity\u201d failed to address what it described as the growing suppression of democratic freedoms in Rivers State.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to HURIWA, Rivers State has increasingly become \u201ca battleground where elected officials are compelled to operate under fear, coercion, and political intimidation.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The group argued that if Fubara truly believed in the mandate given to him by Rivers people, he should have remained in the race and subjected himself to the democratic process rather than withdrawing and pledging support to what it described as a political arrangement allegedly influenced by Nyesom Wike.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cHURIWA believes that the time for fragmented opposition politics in Rivers State is over. Any opposition party that insists on contesting separately under the current circumstances would merely be helping to divide the resistance votes and indirectly strengthening the continued domination of Rivers State by entrenched political interests,\u201d the group stated.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The association further alleged that both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party structures in Rivers State are under the overwhelming influence of one political figure, warning that candidates emerging from either platform could become \u201cpolitical surrogates\u201d rather than representatives of the people.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">HURIWA therefore called on opposition political parties, civil society organisations, labour unions, youth and women groups, student movements, and other democratic stakeholders in Rivers State to immediately form a coalition and present a single consensus governorship candidate ahead of the election.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The rights group warned that the political contest in Rivers State was no longer merely about party supremacy between the APC and PDP, but \u201cabout the liberation of Rivers State from external political control and economic exploitation.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">HURIWA also revisited the political crisis in Rivers State, referencing what it described as the unconstitutional removal of Governor Fubara and the controversial installation of an \u201cillegal interim military administrator arrangement\u201d which it claimed operated for six months without accountability.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The association demanded transparency over the alleged spending of billions of naira during the period, insisting that Rivers people deserve a full account of how public funds were utilised, who approved the expenditures, and why no independent audit or legislative scrutiny had been conducted.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt is deeply disturbing that while Rivers people continue to struggle economically, nobody has been held accountable for the huge public funds allegedly spent during the six months of unconstitutional governance imposed on the state,\u201d the statement added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">HURIWA further claimed that Governor Fubara now appears politically weakened and unable to independently defend the mandate given to him by Rivers voters.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The group warned that history would judge harshly those who remained silent while Rivers State was allegedly transformed into \u201ca political estate controlled through intimidation, federal might, and godfatherism.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It urged opposition leaders and democratic stakeholders in the state to immediately begin coalition talks towards producing a single consensus candidate \u201cbefore it becomes too late.\u201d<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the withdrawal of Siminalayi Fubara from the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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