Tonye Cole To Wike: Rivers Not Your Personal Estate
Even though the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike has withdrawn criminal charges against him, Pastor Tonye Cole, the governorship candidate of the APC in the state has launched a verbal attack on the man he plans to succeed, accusing of running the state as his personal estate.
In a statement by his campaign spokesman, Mr Sogbeye Eli, Cole said Wike and the state house of assembly were working against democratic tenets by asking Celestine Omehia to refund monies legitimately paid to him as a former governor of the state.
The candidate rubbished the executive order 2 which the governor endorsed last week and said the order was a deliberate “plot by the governor to stifle competition from other political parties. It is another manifestation of his penchant to brutally crush and suppress opposition in a multiparty democracy instead of allowing citizens exercise their freedom of choice as enshrined in the Constitution. We are therefore not surprised that Wike would tow this path in his resolve to impose a lackey on Rivers State as his successor in office.
“Wike has consistently shown that even as a life bencher, he has no issues with abusing his powers without any regards for the law or the constitution he swore to protect. His actions bring the exalted office of the governor of Rivers State to disrepute and embarrasses our people in the comity of nations.
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“It is highly unfortunate and disheartening that while the rest of the nation under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership is opening up the electoral space for the free and fair participation of everybody regardless of political, religious or tribal inclinations, the despot in Rivers State is refusing to embrace change and attempting to take us back to the mud-era where only political pigs can swim.”
