The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike on Thursday exposed how Tonye Cole, a strong political ally of former Rivers State governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 governorship election attempted to take advantage of the feud between him and Governor Siminalayi Fubara to seek his support to win his appeal at the Supreme Court.
The immediate past governor of Rivers State also boasted that he would have gotten Tonye Cole jailed for allegedly stealing the state’s resources during Amaechi’s governorship.
The FCT minister who spoke on Thursday on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, monitored by Newsmata.com.ng (NM) was reacting to the comment by Cole at a previous interview on the programme that Wike was causing political confusion in Rivers State by controlling the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which he insists he still belongs to while also controlling the APC, in which he serves as minister, behind the scene.
Boasting that at his level of politics he and Cole are not at par, Wike said “Tonye Cole cannot talk about politics of Rivers and Nigeria and say he’s going to sit down with me. There is no character”.
Narrating how Cole allegedly denied Amaechi, Wike said, “In 2022/2023 when Sminalayi Fubara defeated Tonye Cole, he went to Tribunal, an Ijaw son, from what I heard. They say Tonye Cole is an Ijaw son, Fubara, an Ijaw son. He took him to tribunal; Fubara won.
“He took him to the court of Appeal, Fubara won. Now when he now heard that there was division between me and Fubara, you know what he did? He sent my former party chairman, Ambassador Desmond Akano who today is a federal commissioner, Revenue and Fiscal Mobilisation to come and talk to me. Desmond came, oga; what are you talking about? Who, Tonye Cole? Are we talking about from frying pan to fire again?
“Amaechi? I should support somebody Amaechi? No, something must be…I said okay, call him. At my swimming pool. they called him. They put him on speaker phone. He said look, you know, this thing, he wants us to support him. Now, what about this Amaechi factor? He said no, no, no, Amaechi cannot control him. So, I now told Desmond, look at characters; what kind of character is this?
“Is that the kind of people you put in power? Now because you want to be this, you have denied Amaechi now. I am talking about Tonye Cole who now thought my disagreement or so-called grievances between me and my governor will now make me to be angry to fight him for him now to emerge as the governor in the Supreme Court.
“Is it this kind of character you are talking about, and a pastor for what I hear people say. He has denied Amaechi simply because he wants me to support him now”.
Defending his allegation of stealing against Amaechi and Cole, Wike said, “Tonye Cole, I would have put him in jail as governor. Oh my God! These were the people who crippled the resources of the state with Amaechi through Sahara (Group). You know I don’t say things that I have no facts.
“Now let me tell you; he was the one in charge of Sahara (Energy Ltd). You know what these guys did? They stole the state’s resources. They sold our gas turbine for $308 million. …Remember our panel of inquiry; he was indicted, Sahara was indicted. Amaechi went to court, he lost. He went to Court of Appeal, he lost; he went to Supreme Court, he lost. …He (Cole) was in charge of Sahara; they were the conduit pipe”.
NM recalls that after the Supreme Court judgement, the then Governor Wike had on May 28, 2022, held a media parley where elders of the state were invited and asked to decide whether to commence criminal prosecution of the former Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, over the fraudulent sales of some valued state assets and alleged diversion of state funds, as well as his accomplices like Tonye Cole, Sahara Energy Ltd, and former Rivers State, Commissioner of Transport, George Tolofari.
Wike narrated how the sum of $50 million was allegedly diverted from the state’s account and paid to Sahara Energy for inexplicable reason. According to him, there was no evidence of any transaction indicating that the state was indebted to the company.
“What did Sahara Energy do for us? What is the transaction that we paid $50 Million for? You said Sahara Energy bought our gas turbines; if they bought our gas turbines, why are we paying them $50million? Did we borrow money from them and where is the agreement to show we borrowed money from them?” Wike queried.
On May 18, 2023, a state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice Chinwendu Nwogu, issued a bench warrant against Amaechi, Cole, Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Chamberlain Peterside, NG Powers, HPs Limited, and Cenpropsaroten Management Limited over failure to appear before the court to answer to criminal charges against them.
