Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, on Monday said he was not surprised that Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State withdrew from the governorship race.

Wike said Fubara should not have purchased the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship nomination forms due to an earlier agreement that barred him from seeking a second tenure in office.

The minister disclosed this while on an inspection tour of some projects in the FCT.

“I’m not surprised that the governor (Fubara) withdrew. In the first place, he ought not to have collected the form because the agreement was reached that impeachment should be dropped while he should also not talk about second tenure,” Wike said.

Wike accused Fubara of failing to demonstrate “gentlemanliness” by initially obtaining nomination forms despite the political understanding reached among stakeholders.

According to him, President Bola Tinubu had intervened several times to restore peace in the state and prevailed on lawmakers not to proceed with impeachment moves against the governor.