Tonye Cole, the 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has described the decision to block Governor Siminalayi Fubara from accessing the House of Assembly as a “full-scale declaration of war.”
On Wednesday, Fubara was denied entry into the Assembly Quarters, where he was scheduled to present the 2025 budget.
The budget presentation had been set for Wednesday following a Supreme Court directive suspending federal allocations to Rivers State until the budget was properly presented and approved.
Addressing journalists outside the locked Assembly gates, Fubara insisted that his attempt to present the budget was in the best interest of Rivers people. He also revealed that he had previously spoken to Speaker Amaewhule on the matter.
Reacting to the situation during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday, Cole said:
“The governor being locked out is purely a statement being made to him that you may have the title of governor, but you don’t govern Rivers State; the power has shifted and that’s what’s being said loudly and clearly and I don’t think it’s good; it doesn’t portend well for us.”
He added, “In every legislature where there is peace, you don’t see any of these. What we have here is a full-scale, full-blown declaration of war; no quotas given and people will bleed for that.”
