A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, has said the party’s governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, lost because of his anti-party activities during the presidential election.
Okocha, who was the Chairman, Independent Campaign Council (ICC) for Tinubu-Shettima, renewed allegations of anti-party activities against Cole at the weekend in Port Harcourt. He told Cole to forget his matter at the tribunal and channel the energy in clearing the anti-party allegation against him.
He said: “Cole has not challenged the burden of anti-party activities against him, during the February 25 presidential election. It was his anti-party activities that infuriated the mainstream APC members, who believed in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to sway support to the PDP governorship candidate, Siminalayi Fubara, in reciprocation of former Governor Nyesom Wike and PDP’s support for Tinubu.”
Okocha also enumerated reasons why the national APC withdrew its petition from the election tribunal and abandoned Cole.
He said: “It is rare to have a party withdraw a petition and allow the petitioner to his fate. Many reasons abound. First, the party may have found it a waste of time and resources knowing that the grounds of challenge are puny. Secondly, the party may have been irked too by the candidate’s infidelity to the party.”
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