By Oraye St. Franklyn
The Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara, has solid balls. He also holds the small, wide, dangling balls of his unyielding predecessor. He could crush them if he chose. Others in his place would have done so long ago and thrown him to the blood-thirsty wolves waiting in the wings to feast and chew him raw. He did not. Not because he cannot. But because he would not. That restraint speaks to a strength of character rarely seen in Rivers politics and leadership.
Governor Fubara, unlike his predecessor, remembers yesterday. He is cut from a different cloth. He thinks about history and he thinks about legacy.
I would not have been that charitable, and the record is public. But I am not the occupant of that office. My approach may not be the only way to reach the desired destination of calm and the freedom to govern for the good of our people. Fubara has chosen a different path, shaped by his own personality. He has the right to be himself, and I concede that.
Rivers people woke this morning to reports of new appointments. A new Secretary to the State Government and a new Chief of Staff, replacing fine gentlemen who gave their best in defending and supporting the Governor through the whirling winds of atrocious, petty and self-serving attacks by his garrulous predecessor.
Some of us knew this already. Concessions had been in motion for some time. We knew that some of our finest brothers would step back for the good of the team and the State. What we did not want were concessions that tied the Governor’s hands and prevented him from governing Rivers State properly.
Today’s announcements show clearly that the Governor is his own man. They show a mind far steadier than that of his predecessor, despite blackmail and repeated attempts to force him from office. The Governor has also shown that he understands the depth of support he has received from Rivers people and does not take it lightly.
The two new appointees are part of his core support base. Fine gentlemen. The previous appointees remain part of that same core. The team is intact even where positions have changed.
If the President’s intervention brings peace to Rivers State, then that is a victory for Rivers people. It is not a victory for Wike, whose intrusion into Rivers politics has set the State back by decades. It is simply the President’s way of managing two strong allies without letting the State burn in the process.
No Governor in our history has endured the level of sustained hostility that Sim Fubara has faced. That he still stands, unbent and unbowed, without dagger or poison in his hand, speaks plainly about the man.
To those who feel offended or disappointed by the new appointments, your concerns are valid. But this is not a triumph for Wike. It is a political concession made to quiet the storm that has battered the spirit of Rivers State. It is also not a defeat for the Governor. It shows a man willing to shift where shifting positions preserves the State and protects the people.
To our brothers and compatriots, Rt. Hon. Ehie Edison, PhD, and Hon. Benibo Anabraba, PhD, who stepped back so Rivers State can move forward, we acknowledge your sacrifice. We salute your courage. We respect your maturity. Rivers State belongs to all of us, and together we will find ways to keep her moving.
History often remembers those who fight. It remembers even more those who know when not to fight. Power proves itself in victory. Character proves itself in restraint.
There is a quiet beauty in compromise when it does not sell the people and does not surrender the future. Such compromise steadies the ship without breaking the captain’s hands. It allows governance to continue and keeps hope alive.
If this peace holds, Rivers State will move forward not because one man defeated another, but because leadership chose patience over pride and purpose over ego. That is the kind of compromise that serves the people, and that is the kind of politics that builds a State.
Oraye St. Franklyn
26 February, 2026.
