The immediate past Accountant Accountant General of Rivers State, Fubara Siminialayi, has emerged as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for the 2023 general elections.
At the party’s governorship primaries conducted in Port Harcourt Wednesday, Siminialayi polled a total of 721 votes to defeat his two closest rivals, Isaac Kamaku and George Kelly who came a distant second and third with 86 votes 37 votes respectively.
The immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo, came fourth with 36 votes.
A total of 898 votes were cast, while eight were voided, according to the chairman of the election committee, Prof. Walter Mboto.
Fubara, a career civil servant until recently floored all the 16 aspirants, many of who were considered bigwigs after a series of stakeholder meetings and consultations led by the state governor, Nyesom Wike, failed to produce a consensus candidate for the governorship slot.
Fubara hails from Opobo, a riverine area in Opobo Local Government of the state and clearly away from the riverine Kalabari zone that has been agitation for the governorship to return to it.
Party delegates from the 23 local government areas of the state who arrived at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt, the venue of the primary at 8am on Wednesday morning completed accreditation at about 2 pm and were seated.
When Governor Wike arrived at the venue about 4:39 pm, he immediately called all 23 local and party elders into one of the halls at the venue where they had a closed-door meeting that lasted for over an hour for the final horse-trading.
The meeting ended at about past 6pm when the stage for actual voting was set.
Before then, two previous meetings convened by Governor Wike to choose a possible successor ended in a stalemate.
The stalemate spiralled into the venue of the primary where horse-trading continued as Wike took party stakeholders into one of the rooms to continue consultation, as some of the aspirants and party leaders initially opposed his choice.
There was drama when some of the close allies of the governor were not sighted at the venue of the exercise after completing all the processes.
Some of the aspirants, included the immediate past Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo, Senator George Sekibo, Senator, Lee Maeba, Gabriel Pidomson and the immediate past state PDP chairman, Felix Obuah among others.
The actual voting started with Abua/Odual local government area at about 6:07pm.
Among the aspirants are former deputy governor, Tele Ikuru, Fubara
Siminialayi, Felix Obuah, Dr Tammy Danagogo, George Kelly, Dr Abiye Sekibo among others.
However, a few other aspirants participated in the primaries including Tele Ikuru, Dr Abiye Sekibo, Chief Boma Iyaye, George Kelly and Isaac Kamaku.
The chairman of the electoral committee, Prof. Walter Mboto, who led three others announced the mode of the election and assured that the process would be free and transparent.
“I will give two minutes for anyone (aspirant) who wants to step down. I assure you of a free and transplant process,” he stated
The emergence of Fubara has finally confirmed rumours making rounds in the state with just barely months ago that the governor was preparing him (Fubara) to replace as governor of the state.
Voting ended exactly 7:14 pm on Wednesday.
The emergence of the former Accountant General would come as a rude shock to many in the state as the man has been having a running battle with the anti-graft agency EFCC, who had at some point laid siege for him over financial fraud in the neighbourhood of N117 billion.
He was then said to have been sheltered by the governor at the Government House to prevent the EFCC from picking him up.
and then