By Ghazali Ibrahim
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has been handed a fresh political role by the All Progressives Congress (APC) days after withdrawing from the party’s governorship primary in the state.
The APC on Thursday announced Fubara as one of its state coordinators for the forthcoming presidential primary election scheduled to hold nationwide on May 24.
The party, in guidelines released by its National Secretariat in Abuja, said the presidential primary would be conducted through a direct voting system across the country’s 8,809 wards.
Fubara’s appointment came shortly after he formally pulled out of the APC governorship primary in Rivers State, citing the need for peace, stability and unity in the state.
In a personally signed statement announcing his withdrawal, the governor said leadership sometimes requires personal sacrifice and insisted that the interest of Rivers State must come above individual ambition.
The development is being viewed by political observers as a sign that the ruling party still considers the embattled governor an influential figure despite ongoing political tensions in Rivers State.
Fubara had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC amid the prolonged political crisis involving his predecessor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Meanwhile, the APC also unveiled the committee members expected to oversee the presidential primary, with former Senate President Pius Anyim named chairman of the election committee.
