‘The All Progressives Congress, Rivers State chapter, is wooing the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, to its fold, ahead of the planned reinstatement ceremony.

The reinstated Rivers APC spokesman, Darlington Nwauju, extended an open invitation to Governor Fubara when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday.

“If I were the governor of Rivers State, on my return on Thursday, I would announce my defection to the All Progressives Congress.

“I think the governor should join the APC, and we would gladly receive the governor into our party,” Nwauju said.

When asked if Fubara would be the Rivers APC leader should he join the party, Nwauju replied in the affirmative.

He said that based on the APC’s convention, Fubara automatically becomes the party’s leader should he join its fold.

“By the convention of our party, if he joins the All Progressives Congress (APC), he becomes the leader of the party,” Nwauju stated.

He also weighed in on the administration of the Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd.), in the past six months.

According to him, the APC in Rivers State has not called for the probe of Ibas.

“APC has not officially demanded that Ibas give an account of his stewardship for the past six months.

“The budget approval he got was from the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is a committee from the House of Representatives overseeing the period of emergency.

“I do expect that the committee should be able to do due diligence, come up with that report, and tell Nigerians what they found out. It is one of their core mandates in the business of legislations and lawmaking,” he stated.

President Bola Tinubu and suspended Fubara are expected back in the country on Tuesday ahead of Rivers’ return to democratic rule on Thursday.

Tinubu is returning to Abuja after cutting short his vacation in France, while Fubara is also due back from London. Their return comes just as the Rivers State Administrator intensifies preparations to hand over power with a series of transition activities marking the end of the emergency rule in the state.

President Tinubu, who departed Nigeria on September 4 for his annual holiday in France and the United Kingdom, was initially billed to spend 10 working days (ending September 10) abroad but concluded his break ahead of schedule. (Channels TV)