The political feud in Rivers State may erupt again, as there are indications that the State Governor, Sir Simi Fubara, may face direct primaries during the contest for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress, (APC).
Fubara is hoping to clinch a return ticket from the APC, however, his lingering and simmering faceoff with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, may be his undoing.
Some states, such as Niger have adopted a hybrid approach for the primaries, where direct election of party candidates would hold if consensus fails.
This is just as APC aspirants flooded the party’s Secretariat on Wednesday to submit their expression of interest and nomination forms ahead of the party’s primaries for the 2027 elections.
Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, who was among those submitting forms, described the exercise as democracy in action and praised President Bola Tinubu for allowing the party to follow due process.
“Every other person that has obtained forms will go and complete them, submit them, and verify them before screening. So it does not isolate any governor or any senator or any rep or any state assembly member. Everybody must come here and do that exercise. So this is very, very important,” he said.
Bago, who is seeking re-election, disclosed that farmers in Niger State had pooled resources from their own pockets to purchase his nomination form — a show of grassroots support he described as both humbling and motivating.
On the mode of primaries for Niger State, Bago said the party would first attempt to build consensus across the state, with direct primaries serving as the fallback where agreement cannot be reached.
“We are trying to build consensus across the state, but where consensus cannot be built, then we’ll go for direct primaries,” he said.
In Rivers State, the picture is different, as APC chieftain and gubernatorial aspirant Tonye Patrick Cole, who also submitted his forms on Wednesday, declared that no consensus arrangement existed in Rivers and that the state would proceed entirely on the basis of direct primaries.
