By: Nemi Tamuno
The contest for Rivers State in 2027 is now being framed as more than a political rivalry. It is being presented by the opposition as a fight over control, resources, and the right of the people to determine their future, with African Democratic Congress governorship candidate Dr. Gabriel Pidomson leading the charge against what he and other stakeholders describe as “state capture” by federal-backed forces.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Pidomson set an uncompromising tone. “The only thing that can stop me from becoming the governor of Rivers State is if God changes His mind,” he said. He added that “any principality or mountain in this state that has planted itself in the Government House or over the people of Rivers State cannot determine the outcome of this election.” On FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s declaration to deliver Rivers to President Bola Tinubu and the APC, Pidomson replied: “With the relationships we are building, the former governor does not know what is coming in Rivers State.”
That response comes as Wike, a former two-term governor of Rivers and now FCT Minister, positions himself as the APC’s anchor in the South-South. For opposition leaders, the Minister’s pledge has turned the election into a referendum on whether Rivers will align with the center or assert its independence.
The voice of opposition has grown louder around what they call the hijack of state institutions. In meetings, press statements and on campaign platforms, ADC leaders and civil society groups allege a pattern of imposition of political actors, the frustration of the elected state government, and the constriction of local government councils to deny them the ability to mobilize and deploy resources at the grassroots. The term “state capture” is now used routinely to describe these developments.
Elders have joined the conversation. Representatives of Ogoni stakeholders who endorsed Pidomson said Rivers “cannot afford four more years of political gridlock and recycled promises.” They described the ADC candidate as offering “practical solutions rooted in discipline, planning and clear accountability,” and stressed that the endorsement was “based on fairness, inclusiveness and cooperation among the various ethnic nationalities and communities in Rivers State.” They were explicit that Pidomson “is not seeking to be an ‘Ogoni governor,’ but a leader for all people of Rivers State,” and pledged to build support networks across all 23 local government areas.
Traditional and community leaders in the central and riverine areas have echoed concerns about diminishing space for local governance. At a recent community dialogue in Port Harcourt, a retired traditional ruler said “when the center begins to choose for us at the local level, then democracy has left the room.” Youth leaders have made similar points, arguing that starving councils of funds and administrative autonomy effectively removes government from the people.
The opposition is also tying the political argument to development. A central claim now being amplified by ADC voices is that despite Rivers’ status as one of the states whose resources fund the federation, the APC-led federal government has failed to deliver tangible projects in the state. Pidomson’s supporters have begun to challenge the APC publicly to name any single federal project in Rivers that has been completed under the current administration. “If there are any, let them name them,” a senior ADC chieftain said at a party meeting in Port Harcourt last week. The argument is that a state that contributes so much to national revenue deserves visible returns, and that the absence of such projects weakens the case for political alignment with Abuja.
That frustration, opposition figures say, is compounded by what they describe as the helplessness of the current state government under Governor Siminalayi Fubara in pushing back. They argue that the ongoing political friction has left the government constrained, unable to fully assert its mandate, and that this has created a vacuum that the ADC intends to fill.
Pidomson has made it clear the ADC will not rely on the courts alone. On Morning Brief he said the 2027 election “will be won by mobilisation and protecting the votes because we know it is not going to be free and fair.” In other remarks that have circulated widely, he vowed that his team would stop attempts to “manufacture results” and would pursue accountability directly.
In his acceptance speech after polling 112,086 votes to win the ADC primary, Pidomson framed the contest in moral terms: “Today, the voice of hope has defeated fear. The voice of unity has defeated division. The voice of the people has defeated political intimidation. And the future has defeated the past.” That message is now driving ADC’s ward-to-ward mobilisation, with a focus on voter education and polling unit protection.
The Wike camp maintains that alignment with the federal government under Tinubu is the pragmatic path to development and federal patronage for Rivers. But for Pidomson and the stakeholders now rallying around him, 2027 is being cast as a choice between continued external control and a push to reclaim governance from the grassroots up.
Dr. Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson served in the Rivers State House of Assembly in 2003 and as Secretary to the State Government in 2007. He is the ADC governorship candidate for the 2027 election.
Dr. Tamuno is the President of Rural Initiative for Community Empowerment (RICE)
