Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara has left the Peoples Democratic Party and joined the All Progressives Congress. Fubara made the announcement at a meeting with his supporters at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, December 9.

The governor said he decided to join APC because, President Bola Tinubu saved his job when some people tried to remove him from office. “Without Mr President, there wouldn’t be any His Excellency Siminalayi Fubara; it would have been the former governor,” he said.

He explained that the best way to thank President Tinubu is to join his party and support him fully. “We cannot support the President if we don’t fully identify with him, not backyard support,” he added.

Fubara’s move comes just four days after the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 17 other lawmakers also left PDP for APC. They said they were leaving because of problems in the PDP. However, this is the first time Rivers State will have an APC governor. Since 1999, the state had always been controlled by the PDP.

Fubara was the only remaining governor from the PDP in Nigeria’s South-South region. Recently, other governors from the area have switched to the APC; the likes of Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom and Douye Diri of Bayelsa. With these moves, all South-South states are now governed by the APC.

The trouble in Rivers State began with a conflict between Fubara and former Governor Nyesom Wike, who is now a minister under President Tinubu. Their disagreement got so serious that President Tinubu had to step in earlier this year to calm things down.