In Rivers State, rumour has practically become official policy. Citizens wanting to know the state budget, government plans, or when new commissioners will be sworn in simply turn to gossip instead of official channels.
Facebook dominates as the rumour capital. People refresh their feeds hourly, hunting for the latest news about their own state.
Yes, the Chief Press Secretary's office—now in its third iteration in three years—releases statements about project visits. But that's barely scratching the surface of what matters in Rivers.
No town halls exist. There are no stakeholder meetings or media engagements.
Nobody interviews the governor, and journalists rarely visit the Brick House.
Yet traders, touts, and beer parlour regulars claim they know everything. They'll tell you what Nyesom Wike said about Fubara yesterday and what Fubara will say tomorrow.
They discuss monthly government allocations and who gets what slice.
I've resorted to Google and ChatGPT for state news. That's how broken the communication system has become.
Kingsley Chinda dominates every conversation these days. His name surfaces in nearly every discussion about Rivers politics today.
I searched: who holds the position of Minority Leader in the Federal House as of May 30, 2026? The search returned Kingsley Chinda's name, describing him as a PDP member representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency.
It also flagged a controversy surrounding the position.
Then I asked: who is the APC's governorship candidate? Search results cited Punch newspaper, stating the APC nominated Kingsley Chinda as its 2027 Rivers State gubernatorial flagbearer on May 21, 2026.
Here's the puzzle, though. Kwamoti Bitrus, the Returning Officer for the primary, certified: "I have certified that I am the Returning Officer for the Rivers State Governorship Primary Election held on this day, 21st of May, 2026."
So how does this work? A man leads the opposition in Abuja on May 30 but runs as the ruling party's candidate nine days earlier in Rivers?
Is he PDP in the capital and APC back home?
According to online records, Chinda still held his Minority Leader position as of May 31, 2026. He'd never formally resigned from the PDP.
One declaration stated it plainly: "Without official resignation from the PDP, he has been nominated as the APC candidate for the 2027 Rivers State governorship race, thus blurring the lines of partisan loyalty to an unprecedented degree."
A Port Harcourt resident reacted with shock. "This appears to be one of the most unusual cases of partisan overlap in Nigeria's Fourth Republic since 1999," the citizen wrote, "with a sitting minority leader participating in a ruling party primary without formally declaring his exit from the opposition."
Years ago, politicians hid when playing for multiple parties. Such "anti-party activities" meant suspension or expulsion.
Not anymore. Today's politicians operate openly across several parties.
They simply rebrand it as "rainbow coalition" and move forward.
Welcome to Rivers politics in this era. And yes, this perfectly suits our rumour-driven communication system.
