Prior to his emergence as the governorship candidate of the PDP some days ago, I'm not sure I ever heard the name Sim Fubara since I started living in Rivers State. Can he win the governorship election in Rivers State come 2023? We shall find out in the progression of this article. I will try as much as possible to do this analysis dispassionately.

Obviously Sim Fubara is the choice of governor Nyesom Wike. I had thought he would anoint Tammy Danagogo or even the current deputy governor Dr Mrs Ipalibo Harry Banigo. But the choice is Sim Fubara, the Accountant-General of the state (for reasons best known to the governor and his men).

But I quickly got to know that he wasn't going to take the governorship ticket to Kalabari. How did I know? In his speech when he was given the chieftaincy title in Kalabari some months ago, Wike said he told the Kalabari Political elders that he wanted to speak first before the conferment of the chieftaincy title on him, but they insisted on the conferment first, then he said he would still go ahead and speak his mind and they cannot take the chieftaincy title back, and then he said: "If anybody tells you, as far as Rivers State is concerned, that the Kalabari people have not contributed, the person is a joker."
By that kind of statement, in my understanding, he was telling the Kalabari people that they should not expect to get the governorship ticket (because they have had opportunities to contribute to governance in the state). Then I began to wonder where he would take the governorship ticket to, I thought he would take it to Ogoni.

Anyway, my effort here is not to pick a hole in Wike's choice of who succeeds him in the PDP. I only want to analyze his chances of winning the governorship election vis-a-vis the chances of his major opponent in the APC, Pastor Tonye Cole (from my standpoint as a university-trained political analyst living in Rivers State).

This article will be boring if it is too lengthy. So I don't want it to be boring, and that is why I'm breaking it into two parts.
Stay connected to Politics in Nigeria Blog on Facebook and on (www.politicsinnigeriablog..com) for the part two of this article which comes up shortly.

Kingsley Onwuka

The only thing I can say will happen to him is karma

Kalabari people should go and sit down. Una sister way be deputy no get voice. What do u expect