Reports circulated few days ago indicated that governorship aspirants under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) concurred as Pastor Tonye Cole was adopted as the consensus aspirant of the party.
Few days after this announcement however, contradictory reports came out that a number of aspirants kicked against it, with some of them describing it as an imposition which could destroy the party in the state.
One of the aspirants who had come out to say he was not part of the decision to impose Tonye Cole is, Hon. Tekena Iyagba.
Iyagba in a statement by his spokesperson Deborah Agbalama said there was no time it was agreed in writing or verbally to appoint a consensus candidate as circulated in a release by George Tolofari the coordinator of the Progressives Aspirants Forum.
The frontline aspirant said he is very much in the race under the ticket of the APC and still canvassing for votes ahead of the parties primaries.
In the same vein, Senator Magnus Abe who is pursuing his ambition to be governor under the faction of APC led by Golden Chioma has ridiculed the decision, describing it as a-one-man-show. He stressed that nobody can enslave Rivers people.
Abe had since collected his expression of interest and nomination forms and has continued to transverse the length and breath of the state sensitizing the electorate as regard his political ambition.
It was also gathered that Ojukaye Flagg-Amachree group has also said that such a decision could bring doom to the party and send it back to its dark days.
Some other party bigwigs reports said, had also railed at the alleged imposition of Cole, saying he has not contributed much to the APC.
It is their contention that Tonye Cole was coming to reap where he did not sow. They agreed that the decision to adopt him as a consensus aspirant over and above those who have paid their dues in the party will not augur well for APC.
With the severe criticisms trailing the decision, APC still has a lot of reconciliations to do if it does not want to slip into bigger crisis. If it fails to reconcile aggrieved members/aspirants, 2023 may again become a mirage.
