…From silence to fury, Mbata lastly talks again
…A disagreement reveals who nonetheless instructions Rivers
By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja
On December 30, 2025, on the Eneka Day celebration in Obio/Akpor, Senator John Azuta-Mbata stood earlier than a cheering crowd and made a declaration that many in Rivers State had been ready to listen to spoken aloud.
“There is just one governor in Rivers State,” he mentioned, stressing that this actuality stood “whether or not Wike favored it or not.”
For Mbata, President-Common of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, it was not a speech crafted for applause. It was a private line within the sand.
For years, he had absorbed slights in silence, selecting restraint over confrontation. That day, restraint ended.
What adopted between December 30, 2025, and January 1, 2026, was a blistering verbal struggle between Mbata and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, one which peeled again years of buried historical past and uncovered the deeper political realignment underway in Rivers State.
When Silence Grew to become Too Heavy
Lengthy earlier than the trade went public, Mbata had been navigating hostility quietly. Even earlier than his election as president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, it was extensively identified that Wike opposed his emergence.
After Mbata received, Wike publicly questioned his identification, insisting he was Ikwerre and never Igbo, remarks many interpreted as an try and undermine the legitimacy of his management. Mbata didn’t reply.
When some Ikwerre teams went so far as stripping him of conventional titles for accepting the Ohanaeze place, he nonetheless didn’t reply. He watched as the identical communities that rejected him had as soon as embraced an Igbo man as governor with out protest.
By the tip of 2025, nevertheless, the political atmosphere had modified. Governor Siminalayi Fubara, as soon as politically subdued, was regaining confidence and institutional backing. Mbata publicly aligned with him, and the Eneka Day assertion was the primary outward signal of that alternative. The response was swift, and harsh.
December 31: Reminiscence as a Weapon
On December 31, 2025, Mbata launched a video and assertion that resonated throughout Rivers political circles. Gone was restraint. What emerged as an alternative was rage sharpened by reminiscence.
“One of many indicators of very poor training and upbringing is which you could’t even pronounce easy phrases.
What’s the that means of integrity, integrity, integrity; what does that imply? Can any individual inform this semi-illiterate, swashbuckle, crisis-loving gentleman, you already know, that this Rivers State belongs to all of us, not him alone, and that we are going to resist you, you received’t get away with all this nonsense you might be doing,” Mbata mentioned.
Then got here probably the most private strike: “You have got forgotten the times you used to scrub my automobile and I used to feed you and pay your college charges. You assume you possibly can speak to me anyhow, you might be simply an fool,” Mbata added.
The phrases shocked even seasoned observers of Rivers politics. This was not coverage disagreement. This was hierarchy reversed, previous money owed dragged into the open, and suppressed reminiscence weaponised.
Mbata’s core assertion was unmistakable: Wike didn’t personal Rivers State, and would by no means personal it.
January 1: Wike Fires Again
Wike responded on January 1, 2026, throughout a public occasion. His reply was dismissive, laced with sarcasm, and unmistakably combative.
He dismissed Mbata as a ‘native politician’ who, regardless of spending eight years within the Senate, was now ‘taking part in group politics.’ He mocked Mbata’s relevance and questioned his document in workplace.
Addressing the insults about his training, Wike selected ridicule over retreat.
“No less than I’m ‘semi,’ not ‘absolutely’ illiterate,” he mentioned, drawing laughter from supporters.
It was a well-known posture, defiance wrapped in bravado. But for critics, the response revealed one thing else: a refusal to simply accept that the political floor beneath him had shifted.
The Larger Battle Beneath the Insults
Past the sharp language lies a extra consequential wrestle. For a lot of the previous two years, Wike had been central to the presidency’s political calculations. His confrontational type was embraced, his skill to destabilise opposition constructions leveraged, and his affect amplified. Then the technique modified.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara, as soon as constrained by what many described as a stage-managed state of emergency, started receiving quiet assurances of presidential assist. Insiders say trusted figures like Nuhu Ribadu and Dave Umahi reassured him, easing his path into the APC energy construction. His reported receipt of APC membership card quantity 001 was not symbolic, it was declarative. Any whispered one-term association was successfully discarded.
Wike, nevertheless, seems fixated on earlier expectations. He continues to insist that ‘settlement is settlement,’ even threatening to disclose the contents of a tripartite deal he as soon as refused to reveal.
His excursions of Rivers State, from Khana Native Authorities Space, the place he warned supporters towards repeating ‘previous political errors’ in 2027, to different strategic places; now seem much less like mobilisation and extra like pre-emptive defence.
The structural imbalance is stark. Political management with out monetary leverage is hole. Council chairmen and constant legislators are ineffective with out entry to sources. Fubara, in contrast, now controls what insiders describe because the decisive levers: presidential backing, social gathering acceptance, monetary affect crucial to 2027 calculations, and broad in style goodwill throughout Rivers State. In that context, Mbata’s outburst reads not as recklessness, however as timing.
When Reminiscence Confronts Energy
Rivers politics has by no means been quiet. However this conflict feels completely different as a result of it’s deeply private. Mbata didn’t assault Wike as a minister alone; he attacked him as somebody who, in his view, had forgotten his previous and overreached his current authority.
As energy quietly migrates, conceitedness is colliding with reminiscence. The Mbata–Wike trade is just not the reason for Rivers’ political realignment; it’s proof of it. And in Rivers State politics, proof typically turns into warning.
CSOs Voice Harsh Considerations
George Batambari, political analyst and public affairs commentator, mentioned the conflict was inevitable.
“This conflict has been a very long time coming,” Batambari mentioned. “Even earlier than Mbata was elected president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, it was already frequent information that the FCT minister opposed his emergence, a lot for integrity and loyalty to at least one’s political godfather. After Mbata received, the minister went on air to insist that he was Ikwerre, not Igbo, which many noticed as casting doubts on the legitimacy of his election. By means of all of this, Mbata saved quiet.
It even acquired to the purpose the place some Ikwerre teams stripped him of his conventional titles as a result of he accepted the Ohanaeze place, even supposing the identical Ikwerre individuals had no drawback giving an Igbo man, Odili, a title and embracing him whereas he was governor. Seen towards that backdrop, Mbata’s outburst now could be well-timed.”
Omoniyi Akintabi, a political danger marketing consultant, warned that Wike could also be misreading the second.
“By 2026, a whole lot of issues will come to gentle in Rivers State,” Akintabi mentioned. “Wike actually must relax. He can’t win a confrontation with the presidency except he’s able to burn his fingers. Bola Tinubu is just not Buhari, whom he was used to preventing as governor. It is a completely different sport solely, and he’s only one mistaken transfer away from being sidelined.”
From Wike’s camp, loyalty stays agency
Emeka Kency, a PDP member loyal to the Wike-backed faction, mentioned: “Wike has labored laborious and clearly set himself aside. Anybody going after him is most certainly appearing out of envy over his achievements. He doesn’t have to reply to each assault or distraction.”
Civil society voices have been harsher
Prince Adebanji, a civil society chief, mentioned: “Generally, whenever you hear this man communicate, you’d assume he alone has the facility to make and unmake kings. The extent of bravado that comes throughout is truthfully embarrassing and utterly pointless.”
In Rivers State, the insults could fade, however the message endures: energy shifts quietly, and reminiscence has an extended attain.
The put up Wike, Mbata clash redraws Rivers power map appeared first on Vanguard News.
