By Saintmoses Eromosele (SME)
Power does not always fall with a bang. Sometimes it is quietly dismantled, piece by piece, by people who claim to be on your side. That is what is happening in Rivers State.
The impeachment push against Governor Siminalayi Fubara is not about the budget. It is not about misconduct. It is not about governance failure. It is about control. It is about an old political empire refusing to accept that its time has passed, and choosing instead to burn down the house rather than hand over the keys.
Let us be clear and honest. A large number of members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, including the Speaker, publicly defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). They did not do so secretly. They did not do so under pressure. They stood before cameras, declared loyalty to the APC, and took shelter under the political protection that comes with being part of the ruling party at the centre.
That single fact changes everything.
You cannot wear the APC uniform by day and prosecute a war for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by night. You cannot defect into a party and then use its platform to destroy an APC government from within. That is not political cleverness. That is sabotage. And sabotage must be treated as such.
The renewed attempt to impeach Fubara is not a democratic act; it is a hostile takeover dressed up as due process. It is not renewed hope; it is renewed hostility. Yes, the law is being cited, but it is not being deployed in good faith. When the spirit of the law is missing, legality becomes a blunt weapon in the hands of the powerful. This is where the APC must wake up and act decisively.
If lawmakers who defected to the APC are now leading or supporting a process designed to remove an APC governor and quietly restore PDP dominance in Rivers State, then the party has both the right and the duty to act. Political parties are not charities. They are institutions built on loyalty, shared interest, and discipline.
Internal party mechanisms exist for moments like this. Pressure can be applied. Lines can be drawn. Consequences can be made clear. Politics is not Sunday school.
This is not the time for moral hesitation. When external political interests have openly declared an intention to destroy your party or destabilise your government, restraint becomes weakness. Silence becomes consent.
The danger here goes beyond Rivers. If this strategy succeeds—if a former PDP power centre can hijack an APC legislature, remove an APC governor, and return the state to PDP control through the back door—then no APC state is safe. Elections lose meaning. Mandates become temporary permissions granted by godfathers. Party structures turn hollow.
That is a direct threat to the APC’s future, especially as 2027 draws closer.
Governor Fubara, for his part, must stop defending himself with politeness alone. The law is not only a shield; it is also a brake. Courts exist to stop reckless political actions, to question standing, to test procedure, and to delay illegality until truth catches up. Litigation is not cowardice. It is strategy.
If the defections of lawmakers are under legal dispute, that dispute must be pursued firmly and decisively. If impeachment steps violate procedure, they must be challenged at every stage—lawfully, meticulously, and persistently—so that due process is tested, inconsistencies exposed, and political reality allowed the time to reassert itself. Politics is not won by good intentions; it is won by preparation and resolve. To borrow a phrase often associated with President Bola Tinubu, power is not served à la carte.
The Presidency should be paying closer attention. Rivers is not a local quarrel. It is a test case. How the APC handles this moment will show Nigerians whether the party can protect its own governments or whether it will surrender them to internal betrayal and external manipulation. This is not about liking Fubara or disliking anyone else. It is about defending a simple idea: that votes matter, parties matter, and mandates are not toys in the hands of self-styled political gods. If APC loses in Rivers, it effectively loses two strategic territories: Rivers and the FCT. That reality deserves serious thought.
A party that borrows its enemy’s knife should not be surprised when it bleeds. The APC still has a choice in Rivers: act like a ruling party with authority and clarity, or watch quietly as its own house is pulled apart from the inside.
History will not judge intentions. It will judge outcomes.
Saintmoses Eromosele (SME) writes from his cassava farm in Ewu
Email: talktosme@gmail.com
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