A fresh row is brewing within the camps of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over unresolved aspects of the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu several months ago.
Insiders within the Wike-Fubara camp familiar with the matter told Sunday PUNCH that disagreement over the composition of a new cabinet was at the heart of the lingering crisis.
Following a prolonged political crisis that escalated into a six-month state of emergency in Rivers State, Tinubu had in June 2025 brokered a peace deal between Fubara and Wike after a closed-door reconciliation meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
In attendance at the meeting were key Rivers lawmakers, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, alongside Wike and Fubara, with both sides publicly confirming a truce.
Wike had declared after the meeting that there was “no more acrimony” and that peace had returned to the state, while Fubara emphasised the need to sustain the agreement for the progress of the state.
However, several months after the truce, findings showed that the political rift between the two camps has shown little sign of abating, as the underlying issues fuelling the crisis remain unresolved.
At the first plenary sitting of the Rivers State House of Assembly after the emergency rule was lifted, Amaewhule asked Fubara to submit a fresh list of commissioner-nominees.
Following his reinstatement in September, Fubara had opted to retain eight commissioners who were unaffected by the Supreme Court judgment that recognised Amaewhule as the authentic Speaker of the Assembly.
He had earlier dissolved his cabinet after the expiration of the emergency rule to pave the way for a fresh executive council.
Findings showed that despite several meetings between the governor and the lawmakers, no consensus has been reached on the list of commissioner-nominees.
According to insiders, the lawmakers plan to reject any commissioner-nominee that does not align with the Wike camp in a bid to retain influence over the state’s political structure.
A top Peoples Democratic Party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, alleged that the FCT minister was pushing for control of a significant portion of the cabinet.
He alleged that the minister was demanding up to 12 commissioners.
“If you want 12 commissioners, what will the governor have left?” the source asked.
“Asking for three, four or even five commissioners is understandable, but 12 is excessive, particularly after taking over all 23 Local Government Areas. Commissioners are people a governor works closely with, and he must be comfortable with those appointments.”
However, another PDP stakeholder and strong ally of the FCT minister, Chimelem Wodi, dismissed the claim, describing it as the handiwork of political jobbers spreading false information to remain relevant.
Wodi, who is the legal adviser to the Federal Commissioner to the President on Christian Pilgrimage, South-South zone, said Wike was “bigger than that.”
He said the former Rivers State governor had achieved almost everything in politics, as a former local government chairman, former National Chairman of ALGON, former governor and now minister, to be seeking commissioner slots.
The PDP stakeholder said the governor had refused to come to terms with the reality of having a political godfather, insisting that the Rivers political issue had been settled by the President.
According to him, those pushing the narrative were political jobbers who resurfaced after months of irrelevance following the state of emergency.
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