Fubara appoints five special advisers

By : Ann Godwin

Date: 2 January 2026 9:08am WAT

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Governor Siminalayi Fubara

Governor Siminalayi Fubara

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has approved the appointment of five special advisers, including two former commissioners who served under his administration.

This comes barely 72 hours after the governor carried out a minor cabinet reshuffle with the redeployment of the Commissioner for Sports, Christopher Green, to the Ministry of Justice as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. However, a statement released by the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Information and Communications, Dr Honour Sirawoo, said Green would continue to coordinate the activities of the Ministry of Sports pending the appointment of a substantive Commissioner for Sports. The latest appointments were contained in a government special announcement released in Port Harcourt on Thursday by the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Information and Communications, Dr Honour Sirawoo, and made available to newsmen.

Meanwhile, a factional caretaker chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Dr Nname Ewor, has accused Governor Fubara of deceiving party members and Rivers people over the peace deal he allegedly entered into with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. Ewor said the governor should publicly disclose the full details of the agreement brokered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which he claimed paved the way for the lifting of the emergency rule in the state. According to him, Fubara misled party stakeholders into believing he could wrest political control from Wike, only to later abandon the PDP “in the middle of a political sea.”

He alleged that the governor travelled alone to Abuja and reached an understanding with the FCT minister and the Rivers State House of Assembly, under which he reportedly agreed not to seek a second term, to sack his Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie, remove the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Tammy Danagogo, and reinstate Sergeant Awuse as Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers. Ewor blamed the renewed political tension in the state on what he described as Fubara’s failure to honour the alleged agreement. “Rather than follow the path of peace after the end of the emergency rule to ensure smooth governance, the governor began boasting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would force the House of Assembly to pass the budget and also compel Wike to work for his re-election,” he said.

He recalled that after his reinstatement, Fubara retained Ehie, appointed Danagogo’s ally, Benibo Anabraba, as SSG, and has yet to reinstate Awuse. Addressing journalists on Thursday in Port Harcourt, Ewor insisted that Rivers people deserve to know the full content of the peace deal reached before the president. “The mandate Governor Fubara holds was given to him by the people of Rivers State. His actions and inactions affect everyone. Therefore, it is incumbent on him to fully disclose all agreements he entered into in a peace deal brokered by the president before the emergency rule was lifted,” he said.

Ewor traced the crisis to the rift between the governor and members of the State House of Assembly within his first year in office, which culminated in the bombing of the Assembly complex, a failed peace pact, and eventually the declaration of a state of emergency in March 2025. He said a second, undocumented peace deal was later brokered during the emergency rule, but collapsed again, leading to Fubara’s defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December 2025. “As a party, we challenged the declaration of the emergency rule in court to protect our mandate. Today, the governor has taken that mandate to the APC, which is improper,” he added.

Ewor also criticised Fubara’s role during the PDP National Convention held in Ibadan in November 2025, noting that although Rivers State delegates participated under the governor’s watch, he failed to attend the convention, during which the state executive committee was dissolved. He further defended the legitimacy of the PDP caretaker committee constituted by the party’s National Working Committee in December 2025, stressing that its actions remain valid pending the outcome of ongoing litigation. On Wike’s recent thank-you tour of the 23 local government areas, Ewor said the FCT minister had consistently accused the governor of failing to keep to the terms of the peace agreement, including the alleged pledge not to seek re-election.

While acknowledging that Fubara’s second-term ambition is now a matter for the APC, Ewor maintained that Rivers people must be informed of all agreements that affect governance and stability in the state. “This is about our collective interest, welfare and peaceful governance. We therefore demand that the governor fully and completely disclose all agreements reached before the president, to enable Rivers people make informed decisions ahead of the 2027 general elections,” he said.

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