The President of the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, Theophilus Alaye, has rejected any single-term deal as a condition for the return of suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
Alaye said Fubara has the constitutional right to seek re-election and should not be browbeated by any political actor including his predecessor Nyesom Wike into settling for a single term as a condition for his suspension to be lifted by President Bola Tinubu.
“The Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, is a citizen of Nigeria and by the virtue of the Nigerian Constitution, we believe that the governor has the right to seek re-election,” the Ijaw youth president said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
Alaye said any information about a single-term deal for Fubara’s return remained speculation but said that his group would back the governor for re-election.
He said, “When we get to 2027, we shall know if that is part of the agreement. And if he has delivered the dividends of democracy for Rivers people, it is left for Rivers people to ask him to contest or not.
“As the President of the Council, if a single-term is part of the agreement he has signed or they gave to him that he should not seek re-election in 2027, some of us are not going to be part of that because that is an infringement on his fundamental human rights, and it is against the Nigerian Constitution.
“Oppression is what we would never support. We have always been a group of marginalised persons and agitation has always been part of our lifestyle.
“So, standing behind the Rivers State governor to seek re-election come 2027 is not going to be a new thing to us because for us to sit down and allow some group of persons to infringe on his constitutional rights is what we, as a people, will not accept.”
Tinubu imposed a state of emergency on Rivers State in March 2025 and suspended Fubara; his deputy Ngozi Odu; and members of the state assembly over the political crisis in the state.
Late June, the warring political actors including Wike and Fubara were spotted with the president and announced that they had agreed to work together.
