A Professor of Public Law at Rivers State University, Ritchard Wokocha, says Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress is a personal political decision.
Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme monitored on Wednesday, Wokocha noted that the governor’s defection speech reflected an individual choice rather than a collective party position.
“The words suggest personal decisions,” he said. “In politics, individuals take their own decisions, and those choices should be respected.”
Wokocha stressed that Fubara spoke only for himself and his loyalists, just as members of the State House of Assembly who recently defected made their own declarations.
He also pointed out that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, remains a member of the PDP, noting that it would be inappropriate for Fubara to imply otherwise.
“So remember that the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, is still in the PDP,” he said. “It would be inappropriate to drag in the minister who has not declared any move to the APC.”
Wokocha concluded that the governor’s carefully chosen words signalled a personal shift and should be viewed as such.