Blessing Fubara Snr, a development strategist and urban renewal consultant, obtained the nomination and expression of interest forms of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Abuja on Wednesday, announcing his intention to contest the state’s top executive seat.
The NDC chairman in Rivers State, Hon. Success Jack, confirmed to journalists that Blessing Fubara Snr is now one of the party’s governorship aspirants. He added that “the NDC as a political party is prepared and still preparing to win not only the Rivers State 2027 governorship race, but all the elections in Rivers State come the 2027 general election.”
Who Is Blessing Fubara Snr?
Blessing Fubara Snr holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Development and Adult Education and serves as the Managing Director and Chief Executive of D’Consiglories LLC. He has worked as Technical Assistant to the Rivers State Government on Employment Generation and Empowerment, Resource Consultant to the Niger Delta Development Commission on Youth Development, and Consultant to the Rivers State Government on Urban Renewal and Infrastructure Development.
He defected from the APC to the NDC roughly two weeks before picking up the governorship forms, having been formally received in Abuja by the NDC’s national leader, former Bayelsa State Governor Senator Seriake Dickson, alongside senior party figures. At his reception, he described the NDC as “a moving train,” arguing that joining the party was driven by the need to protect the people of Rivers State amid escalating political tensions ahead of 2027. “The soul of Rivers State is at stake,” he said.
Both Blessing Fubara Snr and Governor Siminalayi Fubara hail from the Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State. One source described Blessing as a relative of the governor, though Hon. Success Jack said he could not confirm whether the two men are directly related.
Governor Fubara Steps Back from the APC Primary
The timing of Blessing Fubara Snr’s move in the Rivers State 2027 governorship race is inseparable from the dramatic events surrounding the incumbent governor. In a personally signed statement issued on Wednesday night, Governor Siminalayi Fubara announced his withdrawal from the APC governorship primaries scheduled for Thursday, 21 May 2026.
“After deep reflection and extensive consultations with my family, friends, and associates, I have taken the difficult but necessary decision to withdraw from the APC gubernatorial primaries,” the governor said, pledging support for whoever emerges as the party’s candidate.
He framed the move as a sacrifice rather than a surrender. “Rivers State is bigger than any individual, and at this critical moment, the peace, stability, and unity of our dear state must take precedence over every personal interest,” he stated, adding that his weeks of silence had been “deliberate and strategic.”
The withdrawal followed a troubled run inside the APC. Premium Times reported that APC associates of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike were cleared to contest on the party’s platform while loyalists of the governor were disqualified from the state House of Assembly primaries, a development that Fubara’s allies described to journalists as a “pre-planned script” orchestrated to squeeze the governor out. The governor had also walked out of the APC screening exercise in Abuja the previous week, declining to address journalists and saying only “no comment.”
Tonye Cole, another aspirant in the Rivers State 2027 governorship race, also withdrew from the APC primary on Wednesday, citing party unity.
Wike’s Man Is Now the APC Frontrunner
With both Fubara and Cole out, the APC path in the Rivers State 2027 governorship race is largely clear for Dr Alabo Dakorinama George Kelly, widely regarded as Wike’s preferred candidate. Wike confirmed publicly at a media briefing on 6 May 2026 that George Kelly had picked the APC governorship nomination form, saying: “I can confirm to you that Dr Dax George Kelly picked the APC governorship ticket to contest the 2027 Rivers State governorship election.”
George Kelly, a former Rivers State Commissioner for Works and a Kalabari Ijaw son from Buguma town, finished second behind Siminalayi Fubara in the 2022 PDP governorship primary. He currently serves as Director-General of the Border Communities Development Agency under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Vanguard reported that one of the key terms of the reconciliation deal brokered by President Tinubu following the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State in March 2025 was that Fubara would not seek re-election in 2027. The governor’s withdrawal is being read by several analysts as the fulfilment of that reported condition, though no official confirmation of its terms has ever been issued.
What the NDC Entry Signals for Rivers Politics
The emergence of Blessing Fubara Snr in the Rivers State 2027 governorship race on an NDC platform raises questions that go beyond the man himself. The NDC, led nationally by Senator Seriake Dickson, has positioned itself as an alternative for voters alienated by the Wike-APC arrangement and disillusioned with the PDP.
At its first national convention earlier this month, Dickson declared that “everyone is free to run for any leadership role in the 2027 election without any problems,” presenting the party as a faction-free space. Political observers believe the Rivers State 2027 governorship race may become one of Nigeria’s most closely watched political battles ahead of 2027.
The Guardian reported that the power dynamics within the APC in Rivers State revolve around three blocs: Wike’s camp, Fubara’s emerging structure, and the older APC group linked to former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and figures such as Tonye Cole. Fubara’s withdrawal from the APC primary does not eliminate his political relevance; it raises the question of what platform, if any, he will actively back when the election itself arrives.
The appearance of Blessing Fubara Snr in the NDC feeds speculation, which is so far unconfirmed, that the NDC could become a vehicle for political actors sympathetic to the governor’s cause. Blueprint Newspapers reported last week that Blessing had been described by one source as a relative of the governor at the time of his defection.
Political observers note, however, that the NDC faces a structural challenge that no amount of symbolic momentum can easily resolve. As critics of the party’s arrival in Rivers State have pointed out, converting public attention into a statewide organisation capable of matching the entrenched machinery of the APC or even the PDP will require significant resources, time, and coordination.
The Deeper Battle Over Rivers State
The Rivers State 2027 governorship race is, at its core, a continuation of a three-year power struggle. Fubara came to office in 2023 with Wike’s backing, but the relationship shattered almost immediately after he assumed office, triggering a crisis that consumed the state House of Assembly, produced multiple impeachment threats, and eventually led to the declaration of a state of emergency under which Fubara was suspended as governor for six months before being reinstated in September 2025.
The political environment he returned to was no friendlier. The Guardian noted that tensions between the Wike and Fubara camps “never fully subsided” despite multiple reconciliation attempts brokered by the Presidency. The disqualification of Fubara’s allies from APC primaries while Wike’s associates sailed through confirmed, for many observers, that the APC structure in Rivers State is firmly under the minister’s influence.
Against that backdrop, the governor’s withdrawal statement — with its careful language about sacrifice, wisdom, and “what a hunter sees in the forest” — reads less as a concession than as a positioning exercise. Whether that positioning points toward the NDC, independent candidacy, or a third arrangement remains unclear.
For now, the Rivers State 2027 governorship race has a new name attached to the Fubara surname, a new party gathering momentum, and a question that nobody in Port Harcourt or Abuja has yet fully answered: where does the sitting governor go from here? The answer could ultimately reshape the entire Rivers State 2027 governorship race ahead of the general election.
Sources: Daily Trust, Premium Times, The Punch, Vanguard, Blueprint Newspapers, The Guardian Nigeria, Leadership Newspaper, National Network Online, Businessday NG.
