The race to ascend to Brick House 2023 in Rivers state is up for grabs as All Progressives Congress-APC candidate Architect Tonye Cole is facing an uphill task of uniting the party in the state that is already in tatters. Senator Magnus Ngei Abe is one member of APC in Rivers state who is angry about how the State Congress was held and how it favoured Architect Tonye Cole the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 Governorship election in Rivers state. The lingering challenge of having Architect Tonye Cole as the party’s candidate is not working well with those factional groups that belong to Senator Magnus Abe as majority of them have resigned as members of the party. Honourable barrister Golden Chioma and Former Federal House of Representatives Elder Chidi Wihioka and Celestine Akpobarie all have resigned their membership of All Progressives Congress-APC in Rivers State.
It is based on the above premise that Senator Magnus Abe has remained adamant to honouring Architect Tonye Cole as APC Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers state. For Distinguished Senator Magnus Ngei Abe remaining in the Rivers State APC and without having his name in the ballot is an aberration as he is currently going around the state assuring his supporters that he must be on the Rivers state Governorship ballot papers come 2023. At strategic locations in the state Senator Magnus Abe has huge billboards urging his supporters to go and get Permanent Voters Cards-PVC and that he must be on the Governorship ballot paper.
The Chairman of his factional group Golden Chioma is now a member of the Social Democratic Party-SDP in Rivers state. With this speculation and the deadline fixed by Independent National electoral Commission-INEC for substitution of candidates being targeted at the third week of July, 2022 Rivers state people have been left guessing on what Senator Abe is up to should he not utilize the opportunity provided by INEC for a replacement. Or does he have an alternative plan of capitalizing on the ongoing Court process that is challenging APC Governorship candidate Architect Tonye Cole as alleged fifty Million United States of American Dollar having been transferred to his company Sahara energies while the former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was a Governor in Rivers state. If there is an infraction in the Delegates’ electoral process that threw up Tonye Cole as Governorship candidate there may be a rerun for those who have purchased Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms.
Another ongoing mass resignation is hitting Rivers state APC with Prince Tonye Princewill resigning from the party on Tuesday, 12th of July, 2022 on the ground that he doesn’t support the nomination of Alhaji Kassim Shettima, a Muslim running mate to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Currently, Rivers state stakeholders in APC are not being found in the distribution of national offices which including Chairmanship of NIMASA which Honourable Asita O. was holding before he resigned to run for Governorship of APC in Rivers state. Again, the former Ambassador of Nigeria in Netherland, Ambassador Oji Ngofa is now a senatorial candidate of Rivers South East APC which has left most of the stakeholders in confused situation with Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi not succeeding in his Presidential ambition thus, there is low morale in the party followership in Rivers state.