The All Progressives Congress’ Tonye Cole, who is running for governor of Rivers State, has given an explanation for why he skipped a visit with Bola Tinubu, the state’s newly elected president, during the latter’s visit to inaugurate projects.
Cole gave several reasons for missing the inauguration, including being careless and Governor Nyesom Wike’s casual attitude.
The PUNCH stated that Wike invited Tinubu to visit the state on Wednesday to officially open the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola flyover in Port Harcourt. While there, Tinubu praised Wike as a man of integrity who put the good of the country before his own interests.
In an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, the APC governorship candidate made this claim. Wike, he continued, should have informed the state chapter of the party if he truly wanted them to be a part of the scheme.
“I will describe the visit from two sides,” he stated. The President-elect is on the front side of it.
“He has the freedom to go wherever because he is Nigeria’s incoming president. We have no issues at all with the fact that he was invited by the Rivers State Government, accepted the invitation, and arrived in Rivers State as President-elect.
“The problem is that Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State, should also be in charge of all Rivers citizens.
“And he ought to have called the APC in Rivers State to let us know that he was inviting the President-elect and wanted us to be a part of the event, if only because the President-elect is the President-elect of all Nigerians.
“Neither our party, the APC, nor I were ever invited to any of those events; neither was our party, the State’s APC; nor was I ever invited in my personal role as a candidate for the party;
“I think that’s where the President-elect acting in his capacity as President-elect for all Nigerians and Governor Wike operating in his capacity as a governor of just a certain Rivers people differs from each other. Our disagreement is focused on that,” he continued.