We’re not working with Wike in APC – Tonye Cole

The 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has dismissed speculation linking him to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, insisting they are not working together. “I have never sat with Wike to discuss Rivers politics or governance,” Cole said yesterday on Channels TV. “I […]

The 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has dismissed speculation linking him to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, insisting they are not working together.

“I have never sat with Wike to discuss Rivers politics or governance,” Cole said yesterday on Channels TV.

“I am charting my own course in the APC, and that’s where I stand.”

Cole maintained that, as the party’s last governorship flagbearer, he remains the legitimate leader of the APC in Rivers State “regardless of whether Wike is in the PDP, APC, or both.”

On his political relationships, he said, “Rotimi Amaechi brought me into politics; that’s a fact nobody can change. He has the right to go where he wants to go, just as I have the right to choose my own path.”

He explained that his immediate priority is stopping the August 30 local government elections in the state, which he and 21 other stakeholders have petitioned President Bola Tinubu to halt.

“The process is illegal and dangerous to democracy,” he said. “There is no lawfully constituted electoral commission, no 90-day notice, and pending court cases on the legality of the sole administrator. It’s untenable.”

With the administrator’s six-month tenure set to expire in a month, Cole questioned the rush to hold the elections.

“Why can’t they wait? Unless there’s something they’re not telling us—maybe an extension, maybe sidelining the governor. Things just don’t add up,” he noted.

He argued that conducting elections under a legitimate government would prevent a repeat of the procedural irregularities that led to previous polls being nullified by the Supreme Court.

On his 2027 ambition, Cole declared, “I will run for governor again because Rivers State should not be in the mess it is now. We have what it takes to stop the rot and put the state where it needs to be.”