The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday expressed “nothing but pity” for Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, saying the governor willingly chose the path that led to his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
National Publicity Secretary Comrade Ini Ememobong, while wishing the governor well, said the constant migration of opposition members to the ruling party threatens democratic space and endangers the country’s democratic process.
“The National Working Committee of our great party received the news of the formal defection of His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, the Governor of Rivers State, from our party to the ruling party,” the PDP statement read. “This news, as pitiful as it is, exemplifies the old legal maxim Volenti non fit injuria — to one who is willing, no harm can be done.”
The party added that Fubara has no grounds to accuse anyone of abandoning him, emphasising that his decision was entirely voluntary.
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“Everyone who has followed the developments that culminated in this uneventful defection, will recall that the Governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination. Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group of abandoning or not protecting him.
“Whilst a person who is at a crossroad of threats of existential proportion, will most likely suffer from temporary amnesia caused by trauma, the Governor should have nothing less than praise for our party, civil society organisations, and all Nigerians who freely stood up in his defence since this crisis started until he capitulated.
“It is our prayer that the Governor should not suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor. In all, despite these, we pity the Governor and wish him well.
“Furthermore, the Rivers situation is a testament to the dysfunctional nature of our democracy, where individuals are bigger and stronger than institutions and can use the apparatus of the Federal Government to obfuscate political life out of their opponents and bring them to their knees.
“Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should unify in condemning this progressive decline of democratic norms.
“Finally, we reiterate to Nigerians and the global community that with the unrelenting disposition of the ruling party towards the attainment of a one party state, and the constriction of the political space, democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria. Everyone must rise together to oppose this ignoble trip toward electoral authoritarianism.”
