Fubara’s Defection To APC ‘Pitiful’ — PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed pity for Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing his political predicament as self-inflicted.

In a statement released on Tuesday, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, said the crisis in Rivers State reflects a broken democratic system in which powerful individuals dominate institutions and deploy federal machinery to suppress opponents.

Governor Fubara had announced on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, that he and some of his appointees and supporters had defected from the PDP to the APC, shortly after meeting President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Monday.

I Joined All Progressives Congress To Protect Rivers People’s Interests – Fubara

Fubara said the decision was driven by their resolve to support President Tinubu, adding that they did not receive the protection they expected from the PDP.

Reacting, Ememobong cautioned that Fubara should avoid what he described as Stockholm Syndrome — where a victim develops attachment to his oppressor.

According to the PDP, “The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has received the news of the formal defection of His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, the Governor of Rivers State, from our Party to the ruling party. This news, as pitiful as it is, is an exemplar of the old legal maxim Volenti non fit injuria, meaning to one who is willing, no harm can be done.

“Everyone who has followed the developments that culminated in this uneventful defection will recall that the Governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination. Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group, of abandoning or not protecting him.

“Whilst a person who is at a crossroad of threats of existential proportion will most likely suffer from temporary amnesia caused by trauma, the Governor should have nothing less than praise for our party, civil society organisations, and all Nigerians who freely stood up in his defence since this crisis started until he capitulated. It is our prayer that the Governor should not suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor. In all, despite these, we pity the Governor and wish him well.

“Furthermore, the Rivers situation is a testament to the dysfunctional nature of our democracy, where individuals are bigger and stronger than institutions and can use the apparatus of the Federal Government to obfuscate political life out of their opponents and bring them to their knees.”

The party also warned that Nigeria’s democracy is under threat, accusing the ruling party of working toward a one-party state and shrinking the political space.

The PDP added, “Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms.

“Finally, we reiterate to Nigerians and the global community that with the unrelenting disposition of the ruling party towards the attainment of a one-party state, and the constriction of the political space, democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria.

“Everyone must rise together to oppose this ignoble trip toward electoral authoritarianism.”