Politics

Tony Okocha Dismisses Tonye Cole As ‘Stranger’ In Rivers State Politics

The embattled Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha has described the immediate past governorship candidate of the party, Tonye Cole as a stranger in Rivers state politics.

He alleged that Cole was only drafted by a former governor of the state, whom he claimed was his (Cole) business partner to occupy the position of the governorship for personal interest.

Okocha who spoke with journalists in Port Harcourt, while reacting to the alleged comment made by the business mogul on national television on the position of the APC leadership in the state, insisted that Cole was never committed to party activities in the state.

He said his right to speak for and about the APC in the State was drawn from the recognition given him by the national leadership of the party, adding that he is also the leader of APC in Rivers.

“I won’t sit down here and compare myself with Tonye Cole. It’s going to be a categorical mistake.

“Tonye Cole is not a factor in the politics of Rivers State. He hasn’t played with us. He has never been with us, and has never been anywhere in the picture of the politics of the State. He was only drafted in by his business partner who was the Governor of Rivers State at the time.

“I was the one that conveyed the decision to choose Emeka Beke as the Secretary of the APC in Rivers State in 2014. And I challenge anybody to tell me where a meeting was held to select who was going to be the Chairman and the Secretary of the party.”

On allegation that he played anti-party with his hobnobbing with the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, Okocha defender that he does not play politics of bitterness, animosity and enmity.

The APC chieftain said his relationship with the Minister of FCT is not out of place, stressing that Wike serves in a government that the President is the leader of my party, therefore he is the leader of the Renewed Hope in Rivers State, cannot shun his relationship because he is a member of PDP.

“Politics is not about enmity. If you are not working with me, or you are in a different political party, you are my opponent, and not my enemy. Some people say you are an enemy. I don’t see it that way, and I also don’t think that it should be so. Am more decent. It is not my style. It is not my learning, and not my orientation, and will never be.

“What is more, His Excellency, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, serves in a government that the person who sits there is the leader of my party. He is serving under President Bola Tinubu, as a Minister, and by that very fact he is a member of the Renewed Hope Family in Rivers State. He is the Leader.”

“The Renewed Hope Family in Rivers State is non partisan. The sea of heads you saw the other time are all not of the APC. Some of them are unaligned, and not members of any political party but people who believes in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu in Rivers”, Okocha added.

Blessing Ibunge