Former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Austin Tam George, has described the fresh impeachment notice against Governor Siminalayi Fubara as “dead on arrival,” insisting that the move is purely political and lacks any constitutional or legal basis.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Thursday, Tam George said the impeachment attempt was a reaction to Governor Fubara’s recent defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he argued had “threatened the original leverage” of Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the state government.
“Well, Charles, I think you answered the question somewhat by yourself when you said that Governor Fubara’s pivot to the APC over three weeks ago has threatened the calculus of power in Rivers State,” he said. “The defection of the governor has obviously threatened the original leverage that the Wike camp had, and they are now trying to reassert that leverage.”
Tam George accused Wike of destabilising Rivers State and reducing governance to personal control, recalling his own experience serving under the former governor.
“Nyesom Wike has been a complete pestilence on Rivers State,” he said. “I served in his administration. I resigned precisely because of his propensity for chaos, instability, and reducing government to a personality cult.”
He argued that the impeachment effort was designed to halt what he described as Governor Fubara’s pro-people governance record and growing popularity across the state.
“Governor Fubara has been an excellent administrator,” Tam George said. “He is spending money to build people’s capacity, lifting communities out of poverty. Funds that would have gone to political godfathers are now being invested in education, health, housing, and rural development.”
Highlighting specific achievements, he said, “In health, almost all tertiary healthcare systems have been revived, alongside 122 primary healthcare centres across the 23 local government areas. In housing, over 20,000 units are being developed. Just two weeks ago, he commissioned the first phase of 1,000 houses. In eight years of the Wike administration, not a single house was built for civil servants.”
Tam George dismissed the legal basis of the impeachment notice, arguing that the allegations lacked specificity and substance.
“What exactly are the legal arguments? There are none as far as I can see,” he said. “If you look very carefully at the so-called articles of impeachment, there is no specificity in terms of any infraction by the governor or his deputy.”
He also rejected claims that Governor Fubara acted unlawfully regarding the 2025 budget.
“The 2025 budget was already prepared, vetted by the National Assembly, and assented to by the President,” he said. “Why would the Assembly ask the governor to re-present a budget that is already law? The governor is simply executing a budget signed by the President himself.”
According to Tam George, the impeachment process is aimed at preventing Governor Fubara from seeking a second term.
“Just two days ago, Nyesom Wike made it clear that if Governor Fubara gets a second term, it would amount to his own political burial,” he said. “So this impeachment is an attempt to scuttle the governor’s second-term prospects. I don’t see how it will succeed.”
He called on the APC leadership to intervene and defend the governor, describing Fubara as the party’s leader in Rivers State with one of the strongest performance records nationwide.
“The APC should embrace Governor Fubara and defend him,” Tam George said. “They cannot allow a governor of his calibre to be humiliated by some members of the House acting as political puppets.”
He further alleged that members of the Rivers State House of Assembly were acting under external influence rather than in the interest of the people.
“On a personal level, these Assembly members have nothing against the governor,” he said. “They see Nyesom Wike as their boss. The real puppeteer engineering all of this is Wike himself.”
Tam George warned that removing Governor Fubara would further destabilise the state but insisted that public sentiment was firmly behind the governor.
“In Rivers State, the feeling is that the Assembly does not represent the people,” he said. “They represent only the political interests of their puppeteer. This impeachment process will come to nothing because the governor has done nothing wrong other than put the people first.”
He concluded by urging Rivers residents and party leaders to resist what he described as an attempt to privatise state power.
“This is an existential struggle for Rivers State,” Tam George said. “The people will resist and defeat this attempt at state capture for personal gratification.”
Boluwatife Enome
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