The Rivers Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last general elections, Tonye Cole has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention in the political crisis between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike ensured the resolution of the dispute.
He made the remark on Wednesday, while featuring as a guest on Channels TVs ‘Morning Brief’. Cole blamed the fallout between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike for what he described as “a very, very unfortunate state of emergency.” in Rivers state.
He said: “I recall always saying the only person who can resolve the Rivers crisis when the governor, Sim Fubara, and the Honourable Minister Nyesom Wike had a very public falling out is Mr President. If he had not weighed in, there is no way the issue would have been resolved.
“We found ourselves in a very, very unfortunate state of emergency — one which was not welcomed at all, but that’s where we are”.
According to him, the president’s intervention led to a reconciliation between the Governor and the FCT Minister, though the process left the governor politically constrained.
“And in the midst of all of that, there was a reconciliation between the governor and his godfather, the Honourable Minister. It was not a palatable situation but that’s where we are,” he said.
“Tomorrow we have the governor coming back and the scenario is like when he started — which is that he found out that he was totally surrounded and could not take decisions by himself.”
He stressed that the “status quo” was the very situation that triggered Fubara’s initial clash with Wike.
“I believe that we are finding ourselves back to the very, very beginning. Status quo revealed that he’s returned to the situation that caused him to begin his fight,” Cole added.
