All Progressive Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in the March 18 gubernatorial election in Rivers, Tonye Cole reacted to President-elect Bola Tinubu’s visit to Rivers State in which his party was ignored. ignore.
Cole said Governor Wike should have informed the APC in Rivers State that he was inviting Tinubu and wanted them to join the program.
He revealed it on Thursday while answering questions on Arise TV’s Morning Show.
Recall that President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu visited Rivers State on Wednesday at the invitation of Governor Nyesom Wike.
While in Port Harcourt, Tinubu commanded the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola flyover in Port Harcourt while portraying Wike as a man of integrity who gave up his interests for the sake of the nation. Wike has also declared a public holiday for people to celebrate Tinubu during a two-day state visit.
But Rivers’ APC shied away from Tinubu’s state visit.
APC state publicity secretary Darlington Nwauju said the party had nothing to do with Tinubu’s visit.
Nwauju told Wike “to play less confrontational politics and refrain from sowing seeds of discord between opposing political parties.”
Cole announced he was absent from Tinubu’s visit because he was not invited.
He said,
”I will describe the visit from two sides. First side of it is the President-elect. As a President-elect of Nigeria, he has the right to go anywhere.
“And the Rivers State Government invited him, and he has come, honoured that invitation, and has come to Rivers State as a President-elect; with that, we have no problem at all.
”Where the issue is is that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, ought also to be the governor of all Rivers people.
“And one of the things that he should have done if he is inviting the President-elect, who is the President-elect of all Nigerians, would have been to call us as APC in Rivers State to inform us that he is inviting the President-elect and would want us to be part of that programme.
”We never got any invitation, I was never invited personally, I was not invited in my private capacity as a candidate of the party, neither was our party, APC, in the State invited to any of those things, and I believe that is where the difference between the President-elect acting in his capacity as President-elect for all Nigerians and Governor Wike acting in his capacity as a governor of just a particular Rivers people. That is where our disagreement stands.”
