Rivers State: Disquiet over Cole’s emergence as APC flag bearer

• Highest Level Of Selfishness— Abe’s Faction

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State received the party’s endorsement of Mr. Tonye Cole as its flag-bearer in the 2023 governorship election with mixed feelings.

Cole, a business mogul, 2019 also got the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi’s nod, to fly the party’s flag.

But, the move was aborted by a court, which halted the state APC from fielding any candidate due to multiple litigations that resulted from parallel primaries held by Amaechi’s camp and Magnus Abe’s faction.

Cole’s choice emerged after a meeting on Friday night.

One of the governorship aspirants, who attended the meeting, Prince Tonye Princewill, said: “The decision has just been made for Tonye Cole to fly the party’s flag. It was not made by the minister. The decision was taken by the party’s leadership.

“The 10 aspirants and two new names that also indicated interest were asked to excuse themselves, while the leaders, without the minister, then sat and deliberated. We were called back along with the minister to be briefed on their decision.”

In a swift reaction, the Magnus Abe’s faction described Cole’s endorsement as “selfishness in the highest order by the Minister of Transportation.”

APC chieftain loyal to Abe, Mr. Golden Chioma, said: “Cole does not have our approval. We cannot be with him. The man is not a party man. He is the Minister of Transportation’s business associate. This entails that selfishness has been taken to the highest order, that a man, who has no business playing politics, who has no iota of how politics is played, is shoved down the throat of his supporters…”

Chioma said Amaechi was backing Cole because of their business dealings, noting that there were “more credible and experienced candidates in the minister’s faction and he did not endorse them.”

“Cole is not an active politician but a rich businessman with an impressive curriculum vitae. He is perceived to be Amaechi’s strong business partner and has the financial requirement to wrest political power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers.”

Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, no aspirant made any comment, especially the strong and visible ones.

Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the Progressives Aspirants’ Forum, George Tolofari, in a statement, yesterday, recalled that the aspirants had earlier signed a pact to support whoever would emerge, either by consensus or election, at the primaries.

He claimed that the leaders who made the decision were not influenced by anyone but took the decision to ensure that everyone was taken along.

The statement read: “On April 11, 2022, we invited you all to a press briefing of the progressives aspirants, were 10 agreed and signed a unity accord to support anyone of them that will emerge, either by consensus or election, at the primaries. Three other aspirants from the Riverine-Ijaw extraction later indicated an interest in the race after the briefing, making them 13 aspirants in all.

“Yesterday (Friday), 19 leaders of our dear party met in Abuja with the 13 aspirants and unanimously adopted. Tonye Cole is the consensus candidate for the Riverine-Ijaw aspirants to face any other aspirant that may wish to contest the party primaries

“The three new entrants, who later joined the aspirant’s forum are Tele Bertram Ikuru, Tekena Iyagba and Larry Allison (who was unavoidably absent at the meeting due to late notice).

He however called on all party members to put all differences aside and see themselves as one indivisible family, stating that what should be paramount to them is winning all electable positions in the forthcoming general elections.