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The political temperature in Rivers State rose sharply on Dec 31, 2025, following a blistering exchange between former Sen John Mbata and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. What began as a routine sensitization tour by Wike to Tai Local Govt Area quickly degenerated into a public spat that exposed deeper fractures, bruised egos, and the rapidly shifting power dynamics in the state.
While was addressing supporters, Wike took a swipe at Mbata, dismissing him as a former senator who ought to be playing state and national politics but was instead “playing community politics” by endorsing a candidate in his locality. He punctuated his remarks with characteristic bravado:
“We have defeated people with money before, and we will still defeat people with money.” He went further to add, “At ur level, you’re still playing community politics, you’re supposed to be ashamed of yourself.”
That condescending jab proved costly.
An evidently enraged Mbata responded with a ferocity that stunned even seasoned observers of Rivers’ politics having been disavowed by his father Mbata was said to have been his guardian even making him a local government chairman. In a no-holds-barred rebuttal, he fired a verbal salvo that cut deep into Wike’s past and persona.
According to Mbata, “One of the signs of very poor education and upbringing is that you can’t even pronounce simple words what is the meaning of integrity, integrity, integrity what does that mean can somebody tell this semi-illiterate, swashbuckle, crisis-loving gentleman, you know, that this Rivers State belongs to all of us not him alone and that we will resist you, you won’t get away with all this nonsense you are doing, you think because nobody is talking to you a very very big fool and idiot. You have forgotten the days you used to wash my car and I used to feed you and pay your school fees, you think you can talk to me anyhow, you are just an idiot”.
Beyond the exchange of insults, the Mbata–Wike clash is symptomatic of a larger, more consequential struggle widely believed to be induced by Tinubu’s recalibration of political alliances in Rivers State. Having embraced Wike, leveraged his confrontational style to destabilize the PDP, and used him to exert pressure across multiple fronts, the Presidency appears to have quietly altered course.
With Governor Siminalayi Fubara subdued through what many describe as a stage-managed state of emergency, Tinubu reportedly moved to consolidate power differently.
Trusted emissaries Nuhu Ribadu and Dave Umahi were said to have reassured Fubara of presidential support, paving the way for his gradual acceptance within the APC power structure. His reported receipt of APC membership card number 001 was not just symbolic; it was a clear signal that previous understandings, including any one-term arrangement, had been jettisoned.
Wike, however, seems trapped in denial. Publicly defiant and privately jittery, he has reverted to his familiar refrain that “agreement is agreement,” even threatening to expose the contents of a tripartite deal he once refused to disclose. His ongoing tour of the state appears less like mobilization and more like a pre-emptive move to neutralize emerging strategies against him.
Yet his greatest miscalculation may be structural. Political power without financial leverage is hollow. council chairmen and compliant legislators are ineffective without resources. Fubara, on the other hand, now holds what insiders describe as the four aces: presidential backing, party acceptance, the goodwill of progressive governors, the money which the presidency needs to prosecute the 2027 elections, and the overwhelming support of Rivers people.
In that context, the Mbata outburst was more than personal anger it was a signal. The era of unquestioned dominance is fading, and in Rivers State, memory, power, and timing are converging against arrogance.
