The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State during the 2023 general elections, Tonye Cole, has alleged that the process which produced Siminalayi Fubara as governor amounted to what he described as “a stolen mandate”.
Cole made the assertion on Thursday, the 1st of January, 2025, while speaking during an interview on ARISE Television’s Morning Show.
According to him, the lingering political crisis between Governor Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, will persist unless issues surrounding electoral malpractice and disputed mandates are properly addressed.
He claimed that Wike played a decisive role in ensuring Fubara’s emergence as governor.
“The process that brought out governor was live on TV. Everybody saw it, and it was as best as I can describe. It is a very, very stolen mandate, but I don’t cry over it.
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“The Court declared him winner, regardless of how he came about. And so he is the legitimate governor of Rivers state, regardless of the foundation that brought him in.
“Now that foundation in itself is what is causing all the problem, and until they go back to address stolen mandates, the way elections are run, the way you change results, so that whoever won lost, and whoever lost won, until all that is addressed, will continue to have this kind of problems.
“So that problem between Fubara and Wike is going to remain. Their challenge is that you came out, and you know that I did everything to bring you out, and then you turn your back at me. That’s the problem,” he said.