The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has strongly condemned the sudden withdrawal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara from the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the action as a disappointing act of political cowardice, surrender to intimidation, and subtle endorsement of the entrenched godfatherism allegedly being orchestrated in Rivers State by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

HURIWA said Governor Fubara’s explanation that he withdrew in the interest of “peace and unity” cannot erase the obvious political reality that Rivers State has gradually become a battleground where democratic freedoms are allegedly being suppressed and where elected officials are compelled to operate under fear, coercion, and political intimidation.

The rights group stated that if Governor Fubara truly believed in the mandate freely given to him by Rivers people, he should have courageously subjected himself to the democratic process instead of withdrawing at the last minute and openly pledging support to a political arrangement many Rivers people already suspect has been predetermined by forces loyal to Wike.

According to HURIWA in a statement issued on Thursday and signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, “the withdrawal confirms growing fears that both the APC and the PDP structures in Rivers State are under the overwhelming political influence of one individual and that whoever eventually emerges as candidate from either platform may simply end up functioning as a political mole or surrogate loyal to Wike rather than to Rivers people.”

HURIWA said this dangerous situation now leaves all genuine opposition parties in Rivers State with only one patriotic option — immediate coalition and unity.

The rights group therefore called on all opposition political parties, civil society organisations, youth groups, labour unions, women groups, student movements, professionals, and democratic stakeholders in Rivers State to urgently collapse their structures into one formidable coalition and jointly present a single consensus governorship candidate capable of confronting the Wike political machinery and rescuing Rivers State from political capture.

“HURIWA 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,” the group stated.

The association warned that the battle ahead is no longer about party supremacy between APC and PDP but about the liberation of Rivers State from what it described as external political control and economic exploitation allegedly enabled by powerful forces around Wike and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

HURIWA further reminded Rivers people not to forget what it described as the unconstitutional removal of Governor Fubara and the controversial imposition of an illegal interim military administrator arrangement which allegedly operated for six months without accountability to the people.

The rights group expressed outrage that till date, no transparent account has been rendered regarding the multi-billion naira allegedly expended during the period of that “illegal contraption.”

According to HURIWA, Rivers people deserve to know how public funds were spent, which contracts were awarded, who approved the expenditures, and why no independent audit or legislative scrutiny has been conducted on the billions allegedly deployed during that period.

“It 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,” the statement added.

HURIWA further stated that Governor Fubara now appears politically weakened and reduced to what many observers consider a lame-duck governor unable to independently defend the democratic mandate freely entrusted to him by Rivers voters.

The Rights group warned that history would not be kind to political actors who remained silent while Rivers State was allegedly transformed into a political estate controlled through intimidation, federal might, and godfatherism.

HURIWA therefore issued a passionate appeal to all opposition leaders and democratic stakeholders in Rivers State to immediately commence negotiations towards the emergence of one consensus governorship candidate before it becomes too late.