Amidst swirling speculation over the political future of Rivers State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) screening committee member, Alhaji Mukhtar Shagari, has clarified that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s sudden withdrawal from the 2027 Rivers State governorship primary race was completely voluntary.
Shagari dismissed widespread reports of coercive tactics within the national working committee, asserting that no external pressure or administrative ambush was deployed to force the incumbent out of the contest.
The clarification follows a dramatic sequence of events at the APC national screening venue in Abuja, where Governor Fubara abruptly walked out of the verification process and declined to speak with waiting journalists. Coming on the heels of a prolonged and highly publicized political feud with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, the walkout immediately fueled intensive media rumors that the party’s hierarchy had actively disqualified or blocked Fubara to clear a path for alternative establishment candidates.
“A Choice Made out of Maturity”
Addressing reporters on Thursday morning, May 21, 2026, Shagari—the former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State—insisted that Fubara’s exit was a self-determined decision aimed at de-escalating the toxic political climate in Rivers State.
He emphasized that the APC screening panel treated the governor with absolute institutional respect, maintaining that the decision to step back was conveyed in writing by Fubara himself to prioritize broader state peace over individual re-election ambitions.
“There was absolutely no pressure from the panel or the party leadership for Governor Fubara to pull out. He came for screening, engaged with the committee, and ultimately made a personal, mature choice to withdraw his interest from the primary contest. He remains a valued member of our party, and his decision should be respected as a voluntary act of leadership rather than twisted into a narrative of political victimization.”
— Alhaji Mukhtar Shagari
Navigating the Rivers Political Rubicon
Despite his withdrawal from the 2027 ticket, Governor Fubara has actively shut down separate rumors suggesting he has resigned from the APC altogether or is engineering a late-stage defection to the newly formed National Democratic Congress (NDC) coalition. Inspecting a remodeled health facility in the state earlier in the week, Fubara maintained: “I am a member of the All Progressives Congress and nothing has changed. People should stop using their interpretation of the situation to present me wrongly.”
