…Amaechi seemingly targeted again
Bombing has returned with gun attacks to Rivers politics as political groups realign and take positions.
The attack lines seem to take a familiar pattern as bitter rivals and foes seem to take opposite positions in the state.
Two former governors, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (former minister) and Nyesom Wike (present minister), seem to be the principal rival in the new alignments. Gov Sim Fubara seems to be a mere branch of the overall political calculations.
The political wars between Amaechi and his former political godson (Wike) began as far back as 2012/13 when Wike snatched the party structure (in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) from his then boss, Amaechi. This forced Amaechi, then governor, to flee with the state executive council and some others to the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC) while Wike occupied the structure and worked with the then president, Goodluck Jonathan. This led to a prolonged political war that saw to Amaechi losing out in control of Rivers State and managed to become minister under the new government of Muhammadu Buhari.
Wike consolidated power in Rivers State and installed Fubara though both father and son fell apart few months after May 2023.
All this period, bombing, gun attacks, and general violence became the order of the day, to this day. The APC where Amaechi ran to continued to complain of their members being attacked at home and on their way to rallies.
The party listed 100 cases of death and injuries allegedly from their rivals from Ahoada zone to Ikwerre zone and to Ogoni zones. The APC even appealed to the new president that emerged in 2023 to investigate the killings in Rivers State, but surprisingly, nothing of such happened.
The violence continued at election rallies and at party secretariats each time elections came calling, while intra and inter party litigations ensured that the APC never fielded candidates in any election over the years until of recent when Wike began to work for APC and.
Now, Amaechi has seemingly been smoked off the APC into the newly formed African Democratic Congress (ADC) but the bombs and bullets seem to trail him.
By Friday morning, thugs reportedly destroyed the ADC chapter secretariat in Ubima Community, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Amaechi’s hometown. Amaechi is regarded as the arrowhead of the new party and new power threat in Rivers State.
There were threats in Benin (Edo State) that any attempt by Peter Obi (also of ADC) to visit Rivers State would be faced with bigger violence. Now, visit of Amaechi seems to start the violence already. Ubima is home to two former governors of the state: Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation and ADC top member, and Celestine Omehia, whose next party is not known yet.
The attackers reportedly fired sporadically at Amaechi’s family residence in the early hours of Friday March 6, 2026. Party members said the place attacked was ADC secretariat in Ubima.
They allegedly burnt his ward secretariat Thursday night, and allegedly mobilized vigilante and some youths to stop Amaechi’s entrance into his LGA and ward, according to an Amaechi ally, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze.
“But Amaechi being the lion that he is, stepped out of the vehicle to tell the boys that in ADC they didn’t join to become weak people.” He did his registration successfully.
The attack occurred just hours ahead of Amaechi’s expected visit to the community for ADC’s ongoing membership registration.
Party sources said the night attack was the second on ADC members in the state in recent months.
One such incident was the alleged attack on party members in Igwuruta Community during a sensitization programme.
The Rivers State Police Command is yet to issue a statement on the incident.
Amaechi formally joined the ADC by completing his registration at Ward 8 in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Friday morning.
Residents said they woke to the blaze which gutted a section of the party office and sent panic rippling through the neighbourhood. No arrests had been made as of the time of the registration exercise.
Addressing supporters who thronged the venue to receive him, Amaechi appealed for calm, urging his loyalists to resist any temptation toward reprisal or disorder.
“Don’t be violent because violence may lead to the death of somebody — don’t be violent. At the same time, they can’t stop us from meeting in our community,” he said.
Despite the charged atmosphere, Amaechi expressed satisfaction with the conduct of security operatives deployed to the area, singling out the state commissioner of police and the director of the Department of State Services for praise.
He subsequently called on security agencies to move swiftly to identify and prosecute those behind the arson, warning that such acts of intimidation would not deter the party’s activities in the area.
Amaechi’s defection to the ADC is seen to signal a significant boost for the opposition party, which has been ramping up its national profile ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In Rivers State, however, everything is usually done to stop Amaechi or any serious opposition group in the quest to make the elections a walkover for the favoured side, a side that always gets presidential path on the back.
