Chijioke Ihunwo says Fubara remains Rivers 001 while Wike leads the Rainbow Coalition, declaring the crisis over and pledging to serve as an errand boy

Former Obio/Akpor Local Government Area chairman Ambassador Chijioke Ihunwo has declared that Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara remains the “001” of the state and his direct principal, even as he acknowledged that Nyesom Wike is the leader of the Rainbow Coalition.

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Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Tuesday, Ihunwo admitted that he and other supporters of the governor had been defeated by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

“Fubara is my direct principal, and he remains the 001 being the governor of the state,” Ihunwo said.

He stressed that the prolonged political crisis in Rivers had ended and that political leaders were now united under one platform.

“We are together and moving forward. I will remain an errand boy to my principals. I’m not up to 40 years, anything can happen in politics. Let me continue serving my two masters as an errand boy,” he stated.

Ihunwo added that no political party now exists outside the Rainbow Coalition, the cross-party arrangement championed by Wike to mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

His comments come after Governor Fubara publicly told his supporters at the unveiling of Rainbow Coalition candidates in Port Harcourt last month to stop calling him their leader and to recognise Wike instead.

Fubara, who reconciled with his predecessor earlier this year, has repeatedly referred to Wike as “my oga” and the “G.O. of Rainbow Coalition,” while pledging to deliver at least three million votes for Tinubu under the minister’s leadership.

Ihunwo, once among Fubara’s most vocal defenders during the crisis that began in 2023, said he was simply following the governor’s directive to join the coalition in the interest of peace.

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The Rivers crisis had centred on control of the state’s political structure, leading to impeachment threats, parallel assemblies and multiple court cases before intervention by President Tinubu and other elders produced the current realignment.