The Vice Chairman (Central) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Hakeem Olalemi, has said the party would not miss Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement on Wednesday, December 10, Olalemi said that the Rivers Governor’s exit was a personal choice driven by his quest for political survival.
Speaking on Fubara’s defection, Olalemi said: “Everybody has the right to belong to where he or she wants. I believe Gov. Fubara’s defection is his personal decision. He is looking for protection, and he believes it is President Bola Tinubu that can give him the protection he seeks.”
He dismissed suggestions that the move had anything to do with the internal crises plaguing the PDP at the national level.
The Lagos PDP chieftain stressed that the political tension in Rivers State predated the current challenges in the party.
“We cannot attach his defection to the crisis within the PDP. It is not a PDP crisis. Fubara’s crisis is a special crisis. He had been in a political war long before our issues in the PDP,” Olalemi said.
Commenting on PDP’s ongoing internal challenges, Olalemi blamed them on individuals who allegedly disregard the party’s constitution.
“Some people don’t want to follow the law. They want to do things the way they think it should be done, and that’s why we are having problems in the PDP.
“If we follow the party constitution and the constitution of Nigeria to the letter, we shouldn’t be having these issues. Those who want shortcuts to success are the ones dragging the PDP backwards,” he said.
He, however, expressed optimism that the PDP would stabilise soon and return to the path of progress.
When asked whether the party would miss Fubara, Olalemi said the governor had been largely absent from PDP activities.
“For the past two years, have you seen him in PDP activities? No. So what exactly are we going to miss?
“Though it is not good for any party to lose members, the truth is that Fubara has not contributed meaningfully to the growth of the PDP since he became governor,” the party chieftain said.
Olalemi added that despite this, the party wished the governor well in his new political direction.
Naijaonpoint reports that Fubara announced his defection to the APC on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
He said he took the decision to support President Tinubu, noting that without the President’s intervention, he would have been “a former governor” by now.
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