Rivers State: Tonye Cole Is APC Consensus Governorship Candidate

Tonye Cole has emerged as the consensus candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State.

The former Group Executive Director of Sahara Group became the consensus candidate after leaders of the aforementioned party met late Friday night.

At the meeting were 10 aspirants from the riverine area of the state, with sources disclosing that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, was also present.

Tonye and Amaechi are believed to be close allies and the former was chosen as the consensus candidate of the party in the 2019 governorship election before a court judge ordered that APC be removed from the ballot.

According to reports, the recent decision taken by the APC party leader has been met with disapproval from party members who are accusing Amaechi of imposing him on them.

Making clarification on the decision, an anonymous source said that it was made in the absence of the transportation minister.

"The decision has just been made for Tonye Cole to fly the flag. It was not made by the Minister. It was made by the leaders of the party.

"The 10 aspirants, plus two new names that also indicated interest were asked to step out, while all of the leaders, minus the Minister then sat and deliberated.

"We were just called back along with the Minister to be given their decision", the source disclosed.