The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Kabiru Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed pity for the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday.
The party said Fubara, despite all the support he got from the PDP and Nigerians of all tribes and religions in the wake of the Rivers State crisis, willingly walked into a trap that became a journey of no return.
“The National Working Committee of the People’s Democratic Party has received news of the formal defection of Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, from our party to the ruling party. This news, regrettable as it may be, is an example of the ancient legal maxim Volenti non fit injuria, which means ‘to him who is willing, no harm can be done.’
“All who have followed the events that culminated in this uneventful defection will remember that the governor voluntarily walked the path that led him to this destination. Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group, of abandoning him or failing to protect him,” the party reacted on Tuesday through its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong.
While wishing Fubara the best, the PDP also prayed that the governor does not suffer from Stockholm syndrome, “where a victim falls in love with his captor.”
The PDP continued: “While a person who finds himself at the crossroads of threats of existential proportions will likely suffer from temporary amnesia caused by trauma, the governor should have nothing less than praise for our party, civil society organizations and all Nigerians who freely rose to his defense from the beginning of this crisis until he capitulated.
“Our prayer is that the Governor does not suffer from Stockholm syndrome, in which a victim falls in love with his captor. Ultimately, despite this, we feel sorry for the Governor and wish him the best.
“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 the political life of their opponents and bring them to their knees.
“Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind, and all well-meaning people should join together to condemn this progressive decline in democratic norms.
“Finally, we reiterate to Nigerians and the global community that with the ruthless disposition of the ruling party towards the pursuit of a one-party state and the restriction of political space, democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria.
“We must all come together to oppose this ignoble journey toward electoral authoritarianism.”
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