The All Progressives Congress APC on Friday night re- presented Pastor Tonye Cole as the preferred flag bearer of the party for the governorship elections in 2023.
Cole was the APC candidate in the 2019 governorship election but the party was disallowed by law to field any candidate following unsettled internal wranglings .
No fewer than 10 aspirants all from the riverine area had indicated interest to run for office of governor in the state
They include,Tonye Cole,Dr Dawari George,Dr Dakuku Peterside,Mina Tende, Ojukaye Amachree, Michael West and Biokpomabo Awara
According to a member of the elders council, Senator Andrew Uchendu, the decision to settle for Pastor Cole was in the overall interest of party members.
Uchendu in a statement on Saturday said” Last night our lLeader CRA set up a committee of Elders of about 19 members to meet immediately and decide on the Governorship candidate of our Party. We all met for about 2 hours and unanimously chose Tonye Cole. The Commitee immediately communicated this choice to our leader. I was a member of that Committee and therefore invite all of you as party faithfuls to accept this decision and communicate same to all our members. It is in our overall interest to do so. Let us get down to work for all our candidates” he said.
Some of the aspirants said the decision by the elders commitee was best in view of the injustice meted out to Rivers APC by the then National Working Committee ( NWC led by Adams Oshiomole.
They said since Cole did not participate in that election it was only fair for the ticket to be given to him.
However, other aspirants believe the decision of the leadership was hasty and would further escalate the crisis in the party.
A source close to some of the aspirants said all is not well in their camps due to the endorsement.
He said ” Some are considering defection, others are simply going to make it nasty for the leadership choice.
” I hope we don’t wait for another 8 years of political drought? he said.
Some of the party supporters who simply tilt towards the leader of the party,Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi said they will popularise the candidacy of Cole ahead of the 2023 general election.
Princewill Dike ,a staunch supporter of the party said” No matter how popular a candidate is,he still needs marketing. So,If Rivers APC folks will bury disenchantment/ acrimony and bond in unity like a bundle of broom, with our own collective popularity,we will popularise Pastor Tonye Cole. We did it for hitherto obscure Engnr Biokpomabo Awara of AAC in 2019, in less than 48 hours, through the instrumentality of the social media”.
He advised members of the party to close ranks and deliver Cole saying” Let us not be like the adage monkey that was celebrating over falling trees, oblivious that it was his abode crumbling. Tonye Cole’s failure will be our collective failure likewise his victory”.
Cole is an Architect and Lagos- based businessman . He is an indigene of Abonnema, headquarters of the Akukutoru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
