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Tag: Tonye Cole

  • Tonye Cole emerges Rivers APC governorship flag bearer

    Tonye Cole emerges Rivers APC governorship flag bearer

    The Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gave its governorship ticket to Mr Tonye Cole in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

    Cole polled 986 votes to win the ticket at the party’s primary election, having defeated Mr Ojukai Flagamakere, who placed second with 190 votes and Mr Sukonte Davids who got 49 votes.

    Mr Larry Ode, the Returning Officer at the election declared Cole the winner and said other contestants, Mr Michael West got 43 votes, while Mr Benald Miku got two votes and Sen. Magnus Abe, one vote.

    In his acceptance speech, Cole expressed gratitude to Mr Chibuike Amaechi, the former Minister of Transportation, for believing that he had the capacity to give good governance to the people of Rivers.

    He also thanked all the delegates who also believed in his capacity.

    Cole called on Sen. Abe and other former aspirants to join hands and work with him to deliver Rivers to the APC at the 2023 general elections.

    Earlier, Sen. Abe said he did not withdraw from the contest as earlier rumoured, but decided not to participate because the indirect primary election option chosen did not meet the standard of the process.

  • 2023: Tonye Cole emerges APC consensus guber aspirant in Rivers

    2023: Tonye Cole emerges APC consensus guber aspirant in Rivers

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), says Arc. Tonye Cole has emerged as the consensus governorship aspirant of the party after a thorough screening of 12 aspirants by 19 leaders of the party.

    This is contained in a statement in Port Harcourt by Chief Chris Finebone, Publicity Secretary of the party in Rivers.

    “It must be stated that the leadership of APC in Rivers, consisting of 19 leaders met last Friday and chose a consensus aspirant of riverine extraction to contest the governorship primaries for the 2023 elections.

    “The exercise took place in the absence of Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Amaechi, who declined to participate in the process.

    “After a thorough scrutiny of all the aspirants, Arc Tonye Cole was chosen as he scored the highest vote among the 12 aspirants that participated,” the statement said.

    The statement said no standard bearer to fly the party’s governorship flag in Rivers has emerged yet, as such, can only happen in accordance with APC rules, regulations and the 2022 Electoral Act.

    It recalled that the party was still committed to its earlier position to support the emergence of a governor of riverine extraction after 24 years of upland governorship.

    “All party faithful are implored to continue to go about their activities with decorum and peacefully as the next four weeks are bound to be busy and packed full with political activities,” it said.

    The statement said that the overwhelming interest shown by a cross section of Rivers people, Nigerians and particularly the media on the emergence of Cole needed clarification.

    “The process was an otherwise internal mechanism activated on April 22 to pick a consensus aspirant of riverine extraction for the 2023 governorship election in Rivers by the APC.

    “It has become expedient and highly necessary to provide clarification to all; this is expected to clear all doubts and provide a clear summary of what happened,” the statement concluded.

  • Ambassador Dele Cole’s wife, Pastor Mina Cole is dead

    Ambassador Dele Cole’s wife, Pastor Mina Cole is dead

    Pastor Mrs Mina Dugoabere Cole, wife of Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole is dead.

    This was announced in a statement on Thursday by the deceased’s son, Tonye Patrick Cole on behalf of the family saying that she died in London, on Friday the 1st of October, 2021 after a protracted illness.

    “It is with heavy hearts that we, the children of His Excellency Ambassador Chief Dr. Patrick Dele Cole OFR, on behalf of himself, the Young Jack family of Abonnema and Obiali Amachree family of Buguma sadly announce the passing of his beloved wife, our mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, niece, cousin and friend, Pastor Mrs Mina Dugoabere Cole in London, on Friday the 1st of October, 2021 after a protracted illness.”

    The statement further read that the late Pastor Mrs. Mina “was a devoted woman of God who lived a full and joyous life and whose memory lives on in our hearts forever.

  • Wole Soyinka reacts over Tonye Cole’s narration of ‘flight incident’

    Wole Soyinka reacts over Tonye Cole’s narration of ‘flight incident’

    Media mogul, Mo Abudu has shared Wole Soyinka’s reaction on the trending flight incident involving him and a young air passenger.

    In the viral report, the Nigerian man requested Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, to vacate his seat on board a flight.

    Abudu in a post shared on Tuesday via her Instagram page stated that she had been communicating with the literary luminary.

    The Ebony Life TV boss revealed that the Nobel Laureate gave his permission to share his mail on social media.

    “Hallo Mo, Someone sent me Patrick Tonye’s comment on the plane incident, and I saw your brief comment. It was a very minor thing and I’d forgotten all about it. However, after reading the boy’s response, I became curious. First, I never exchanged a word with him throughout beyond inviting him to take his allotted seat. Never spoke a word to him after that. Certainly never exchanged contact. So of course, I wonder if it’s the very individual who’s posted this or a total fake. The phenomenon of stolen identities takes very strange dimensions and has become a source of worry. I wonder if this is one such. Any way of your finding out. I don’t operate in the social media as you probably recall,” Soyinka had written.

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzIr1LSABIG/

     

  • Celebrities react over Tonye Cole’s narration of Wole Soyinka’s ‘flight incident’

    Celebrities react over Tonye Cole’s narration of Wole Soyinka’s ‘flight incident’

    When Nigerian business tycoon, Tonye Cole shared his experience about a young man who ‘disrespected’ the revered Wole Soyinka by asking for him (Soyinka) to leave his allotted seat which the professor sat on, little did he know that it was going to create stir on social media

     

    Cole had shared a picture that showed Soyinka and the young man, accompanied by a lengthy caption describing the incident.

     

    “@professorwolesoyinka #celebrategreatness #relationshipsmatter met one of the greatest Nigerians walking the earth today and as with other times, he was genteel, witty, forthright and humble. My smile gives me away as he permitted the picture whereas he would have preferred to get back to his newspapers. Then we boarded the flight and after assisting him with his bags, he took the window seat and promptly started reading again.

    A few minutes later this young man, baseball cap, t-shirt to show his muscled chest and tattooed biceps boards the plane and tells Prof he is on his seat (which he was). Those of us including the cabin crew tried to reason with Bobo Fine to let the old man be but the chap refused. He insisted Prof should vacate his window seat, which the old man quietly did for his original aisle seat next to him.

    I couldn’t understand how we got to this point where we no longer have respect for elders, even if are so ignorant of the great global personalities in our midst. Is it too much to ask that an elderly man be allowed to remain in a seat allotted to you in the same business class cabin and the same row?

    Na wa o!”’

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzDmp–F5dW/

    The trending subject matter has garnered a myriad of views from Nigerian celebrities.

    Reacting on the issue, Mo Abudu wrote:”So so sad. That young man will get what he truly deserves. That is definite”.

    Ace comedian, Alibaba noted that the same guy will give up his sit for a militant who has been enriched with amnesty funds.

    “That same guy will give up that seat and go sit in economy, just for a militant who has been enriched with amnesty funds. He may not even know who WS is. Or does and since he has no values, doesn’t care”.

    Popular comedian and host of ‘Laffmattaz’, Gbenga Adeyinka said the young man’s refusal to forego his sit for Wole Soyinka is a sad reflection of who we have become.

    “It’s a sad reflection of who we have become. Let’s even forget who Prof Wole Soyinka is (although thats hard to do). Consider his age. If that is where he feels comfortable, it behoves the young man to allow him sit there considering his age. It’s like me telling my father to stand up from where I sit normally when he comes to visit. We were brought up to stand up for the elderly, women (pregnant or otherwise) but I guess that is no longer the NORM”.

    Nollywood actress, Kc Ejelonu in her opinion stated that old age doesn’t give Soyinka the right to take what doesn’t belong to him.

    “The right thing would have been to stay at his seat, when the young man gets there, simply ask nicely if he could swap seats….SIMPLE….OLD AGE, ALL THE QUALIFICATIONS IN THE WORLD DOES NOT GET YOU A PASS TO TAKE WHAT IS NOT YOURS PERIODDDDD, REGARDLESS OF WHO YOU ARE….ASK. And the profiling of the young man, what da hell has that got to do with anything??? Now what makes such profiling any different from the animals we have on our streets called SARS. The older generation NEVER want to be held accountable under the guise of RESPECT. No Public figure should be anyone’s role model because we don’t know them behind closed doors. Can i also add that the seat is not a “PRIORITY SEAT” for the elderly or pregnant women”

     

     

  • Rivers: APC, Tonye Cole loses at Supreme Court

    Rivers: APC, Tonye Cole loses at Supreme Court

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its factional governorship candidate in Rivers, Mr Tonye Cole on Thursday lost their appeals at the Supreme Court, seeking to enable them participate in the 2019 general elections.

    The apex court dismissed the separate appeals filed by the APC and Cole on the grounds that the notices of appeal, which brought the appeals, were incompetent.

    The first appeal was between the APC, the appellant versus the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the respondent.

    In the notices of appeal filed by the two appellants (APC and Tonye Cole), both mistakenly directed their prayers to the Court of Appeal in their addresses, instead of the Supreme court.

    The APC, represented by its counsel, Mr Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, had prayed the court to overrule its own decision, which had earlier upheld restraining order which barred APC from participating in the elections.

    Okutepa’s complaint was that the restraining order from a High court in Rivers state was obtained fraudulently.

    However, counsel to the PDP, Mr Emmanuel Okala, SAN, drew the attention of the court to the notice of appeal of the APC which was before the court.

    In the notice of appeal, the APC had erroneously prayed the Court of Appeal, instead of the Supreme court to grant its reliefs.

    Okala, who sighted several authorities, submitted that the APC had not asked for anything from the Supreme court, and therefore the notice of appeal was incompetent before the law.

    He urged the apex court to strike out the appeal and dismiss same.

    In the ruling delivered by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad who led a seven man panel, agreed that the notice of appeal by the APC was defective and incompetent.

    The acting CJN thereby struck out the notice of appeal and dismissed the appeal for being incompetent.

    In the second appeal filed by Cole through his counsel, Mr Tuduru Edeh, the notice of appeal was also wrongly addressed to the Court of Appeal instead of the Supreme court.

    The reliefs which sought that the Supreme Court should officially declare him as the APC governorship candidate, for the 2019 governorship election in Rivers state was not successful.

    This blunder promptly made Edeh to withdraw the incompetent notice of appeal which was subsequently struck out by the acting CJN.

    Therefore, with latest decisions of the Supreme court, all legal issues or controversies concerning Rivers APC in relation to the 2019 general elections, had been laid to rest.

  • 2019: Rivers APC candidate, Tonye Cole reacts to Supreme Court judgement

    Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, Tonye Cole has described Friday’s Supreme Court judgement upholding decision of the Lower Court on Rivers primary as only a temporary setback that will be overcome.

    In a statement by the spokesman of the Cole/Giadom Campaign Organisation, Ogbonna Nwuke, Cole expressed confidence that the APC in Rivers will triumph at the end of the day when the substantive suit is determined by the Apex court.

    The Supreme Court had on Friday upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeal and the High Court in Rivers State blocking the primaries conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to reports which suggest that Ibrahim Umar & 22 others have secured a final determination at the Supreme Court.

    “The fact available to us is that the only issue determined today, Friday, 8th February, 2019 was that of legal representation, which had been in contention.

    “Based on the various conflicting headlines being carried, it is critical to state that there are other pending matters, including the substantive appeal, which is yet to be determined by the Supreme Court. Our faith in the judiciary remains unshaken.

    “We wish to urge our numerous supporters not to panic, following the deliberate misrepresentation of facts on the social media and elsewhere regarding the outcome of today’s judgement. We shall surely be triumphant in the end.”

  • Rivers 2019: Wike terminates sale of state-owned power plants to Tonye Cole’s companies

    The Rivers State Government says it has approved the termination of the share sale contract for 70 per cent equity of the state-owned power generation assets.

    The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Emma Okah while addressing journalists after the State Executive Council meeting in Port Harcourt, said the contract held by First Independent Power Limited in Omoku, Afam, Trans-Amadi and Eleme Gas Turbines to NG Power-HPS Limited had been terminated.

    The Commissioner said that the government also terminated the concession of the Rivers and Bayelsa States-owned Olympia Hotel to Cenpropsaroten Hotel Management Limited.

    He stressed that the State Government had also terminated the concession agreement between it and Kild concession Limited in respect of the construction of a Toll road and Secondary developments at Abonnema Wharf, Port Harcourt.

    Okah said the decisions were part of the resolutions taken at the council meeting, presided over by Governor Nyesom Wike at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

    The commissioner said that the three companies whose contracts and concessions were terminated were subsidiaries of Sahara Energy Limited.

    The Commissioner stressed that the government made the resolutions in line with recommendations of the White Paper on the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the Investigation of the past administration’s sale of Valued Assets of the state and other related matters under the chairmanship of Justice George Omereji.

    He said that the government had directed the Attorney –General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Zaccheaus Adango, to take further steps as contained in the White Paper.

  • Tonye Cole’s convoy kills two, injures another during sensitisation tour in Rivers

    The convoy of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, on Friday hit and killed two women in Abua, Abua/Odual Local Government Area of the state.

    The incident happened in Egbolom area of Abua Central-Ogonokom Road in Abua in the afternoon, and another woman was said to have been injured.

    It was gathered that Cole was on his way to Otapha on a ward-to-ward sensitisation tour before the accident happened.

    The security details of the governorship candidate, in an attempt to avoid hitting a motorcyclist on the road, swerved their vehicles to the edge of the road, crushing the women on the walkway to death in the process.

    An eyewitness, who only identified himself as Kipoye, told one of our correspondents that Cole’s convoy hit the two women in Egbolom, while they were walking on the side of the road.

    He said, “The Rivers APC governorship candidate was on his way to Otapha in Abua on a ward-to-ward sensitisation visit. While on their way in Egbolom, a motorcycle suddenly joined the road and the soldiers leading the convoy tried to avoid hitting the bike and in the process, they swerved to the edge of the road, hitting and killing two women on the spot.

    “The deceased women have been taken to the morgue. Right now, we have not been able to ascertain the identities of the women. But they are from Egbolom.”

    When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, adding that Cole and the Divisional Police Officer of the area were currently in touch with the families of the deceased persons and the injured person.

    Omoni said, “We are aware that the convoy of the APC candidate was today involved in an accident. Three women were hit in the accident and two of them died while one was injured.

    “I understand that the governorship candidate and the DPO of the area have reached out to the families of the deceased and injured persons.”

    Speaking about the accident, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, said they were heading to Ward 8 in Abua/Odual when the incident occurred, adding that the political activities of the day were cancelled following the accident.

    “When the accident occurred, the candidate was in about the eighth vehicle in the convoy. A pick-up van was involved in the accident and we all went out to give first aid to the women that were affected.

    “The candidate, who was in one of the vehicles that had moved about half a kilometre ahead, ordered the vehicles to make a U-turn. The candidate joined others to visit the hospital, where the two women were confirmed dead.

    “We then went to report the matter to the divisional police in the area while the activities of the day were cancelled as a result of the death of the two women. It was an accident that could happen to anybody.

    “The candidate and the party have restated that they would stand by the family of those deceased and injured,” the state APC spokesman said.

  • Tonye Cole knocks Wike for ordering immediate closure of IDP camps in Rivers

    Gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole has reacted to Governor Nyesom Wike’s order to close all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps presently housing victims of ravaging flood in parts of the state.

    Cole in a statement by his campaign organisation, The Tonye Cole Campaign Organisation (TCCO) condemned the sudden directive describing it as anti-people.

    Reacting on Thursday in Port Harcourt, the Director-General of the TCCO, Chief Chidi Lloyd, blasted Wike for ordering the immediate closure of the camps instead of visiting the people and providing them much succour. He also added that the actions of the governor would increase the sufferings of the flood victims in the state.

    “It is condemnable for Gov. Wike to ignore calls by well-meaning people to visit suffering flood victims in the Orashi and other areas in Rivers State. Instead, the governor has ordered that the IDP camps be closed down even when communities like Odiereke, Akinima and others are still submerged in water with reptiles roaming freely and occupying homes.

    “We expect a responsible government to cater for the needs of the flood victims and when the water has completely receded, carry out a comprehensive health audit and possible fumigation before the victims move back to their homes. These our brothers and sisters are likely to face several challenges such as waterborne diseases, rodents and possible snake bites. Even some of their homes may have weakened to the point of collapsing with all the attendant dangers to life.”