Tonye Cole Warns Rivers State Set Back 20 Years by Political Feud
Tonye Cole, the former All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, said the ongoing political feud has pushed the state backwards by roughly two decades.
“I am one of those that have reached out across the board to different people, calling them and saying to them that, look, we have fought a fight that has left Rivers State further back 20 years than we have ever been in our entire history as a state. And this is one of the times when we now must all come together to build a new Rivers State.”
Cole stressed that rebuilding must involve competent individuals from all political parties rather than being dominated by a single group, and that the state’s interests should outweigh partisan differences.
“We have to do that across party lines. We don’t care whether you are PDP, whether you are APC, whether you are ADC, whether you are NDC. What we care about now is that Rivers State has to seek the best from everywhere, bring them together, and let us forge a master plan that allows us to move forward.”
He argued that years of division and confrontation have failed to produce meaningful development, noting that the state has tried fighting and it has not worked.
Cole said efforts are underway to bring aggrieved parties together and secure a common commitment to Rivers State’s progress.
“So we are reaching out to all aggrieved parties, and we are bringing everybody together to say, you know what? Can we agree that we now need to move Rivers State forward?”
He warned that failure to reconcile the different political camps could plunge Rivers into another damaging round of conflict.
“The only way to do that is to bring the best from all the camps and let us put ourselves together so that we can deliver a new Rivers State. That is how we build this new state. If not, we’re going into another very bitter division, which will not progress us.”
