The candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 Rivers governorship election, Tonye Cole, has stated that the people of the state are the losers in the ongoing political crisis in the South South state.
Speaking during an interview on a live television programme on Thursday, Cole asserted that development has become stagnant in the state following the battle for supremacy between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.
Cole was reacting to the judgment of the Court of Appeal that affirmed the ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja that voided the presentation and passage of the 2024 budget for Rivers State.
He said, “As it stands right now, the people of Rivers do not matter in the equation that is being played out.
“If the interests of Rivers people were on the table, we would not even be where we are today. This entire fight is political, and it has to do with a very small political family.
“As we speak today, there is no development. The political battle is affecting the poor man on the street.”
Cole said Fubara is in a dangerous political situation that is affecting governance in the state.
He said, “The governor finds himself in a very precarious political situation. Of course, by presenting the budget back to that assembly, what this means is that the assembly led by Martins Amaewhule is recognised as the legal assembly.
“Once that happens, he has to now navigate a possible impeachment issue.
“We have a state where the governor is PDP, the house of assembly based on the court case is APC, and you have a local government structure that is APP. So, you have three different parties running the state.”
