The other day, Rivers APC leaders took a close look at all who have one way or the other indicated interest to run the governorship race on its platform.
It wasn’t supposed to be that easy to reach far reaching compromises any way.
They had Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Dr Dakuku Peterside, Engineer Berkinbo Dagogo-Jack and a host of other promising aspirants to choose from.
By the time the deliberation was over last Friday, the APC had settled for a front runner.
Somehow, it was not a day that big names associated with the gubernatorial race would have the upper hand.
It turned out that a complete dark horse had caused a major upset on his way, one way or the other, into the history books.
Tonye Dele Cole, a billionaire businessman and technocrat who hails from Abonema in the Akuku Toru Local Government Area has turned out to be the preferred pick of the party.
Since that decision was made, there have been all kinds of imputations.
Those who say Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation seized the opportunity to impose a candidate have raised their voices. Of course, such allegations were expected inspite of the fact that members of the party had urged him to make a choice on their collective behalf.
There are others like the Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike who are positing that Tonye is Amaechi’s business partner. There is however, no concrete proof to back such an assertion that has obviously come from the blue.
In between, there is a school of thought who insist Tonye is not a politician. They argue that any of the established politicians would have been good enough.
Whatever the arguments may be, Tonye is now firmly in the race. He would be the first self made Rivers billionaire with a technocratic background and perhaps, a clean record, to run for the Rivers governorship.
This should count as a plus for Amaechi and the APC, especially when the fight against corruption is currently targeting a sordid past and a present in which the open theft of public funds is more like a virtue.
To secure the governorship ticket, Tonye Dele Cole would have to win the primaries. One man who would contest the forthcoming primaries is Senator Magnus Abe.
It is strange that at a time of great propagandeering; when spin doctors are toying with great emotions; this fact has been swept under the carpet.
Abe hasn’t given up his ambition yet. At least, he has not done so publicly.
For months, Abe and his associates consistently accused the APC leader of an agenda to procure the governorship ticket for his protegee, Dakuku Peterside. That permutation has turned out to be vain.
It is possible Dakuku Peterside who ran in 2015 would be in shock. So too would be Dumo Lulu Briggs, a hard worker who had given it his best shot.
They have apparently been strong contenders from the look of things. More than that, they are equally humans with deep – rooted feelings.
Amaechi had succeeded with the support of core loyalists, including these men who did not make it to the finish point, to build a strong party capable of overrunning the PDP.
Despite what can be described as the APC’s evolving strength, the party has all along faced an internal threat; the threat of extreme polarization.
Without equivocation, this problem – a factor of the ambition of the party’s front runners and the hostility that has been unduly transferred to their support bases – had stuck out like sour thumbs.
In the advent of a decision seen as popular in some circles, that which was feared by party leaders has played out.
To guarantee stability and create room for unity within the party, hard options had to be contemplated by Amaechi and those who sat with him to take that firm decision.
Here may lie a prime reason for the emergence of Tonye Dele Cole.
Looking at the existence of fault lines and the need to avert a quake that is likely to affect the foundation of the Rivers APC, the party required a man that is untainted and univolved in the divisive tendencies that have trailed it right from 2014.
Although he may not be a dye-in-the-wool politician, the kind that many Rivers people are used to, he is undoubtedly a member of the party. He has been there from the beginning, regardless of whatever any one would like to say.
As a business man, Tonye Dele Cole, son of Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole, has acted as a major financier of the party.
So, claims that he is an outsider cannot be true by any stretch of the imagination. Even more absurd is the claim that a full blown Kalabari whose lineage was never queried, now has to answer to people who are disputing his Kalabari roots.
It is simply a shame that some of us can go to such an extent in a bid to drive a greedy quest for power. No amount of anger by any group can justify such an act.
Whatever the enemies of the Minister of Transportation may think of the process that has produced Cole, it is crystal clear from the run of events that all Amaechi wants in a multi ethnic State is the understanding that a fair power sharing mode amongst its component parts would ensure equity and justice.
This is what has obviously played out within APC circles through a serious commitment to a power – must – rotate principle.
It has taken a heart that is completely detribalised to get Rivers people to focus on the vision that our founding fathers dreamt of.
He may never be the Messiah that the Ijaws want, but Amaechi who is always misunderstood has turned out to be a friend in need.
Yet, for the Upland where he hails from, his message that a fairer power sharing arrangement is required to guarantee peace, stability and even development among Rivers people is gradually resonating.
Across the Rivers State, there is indeed growing excitement as a result of this unifying principle.
A Kalabari in PDP, for whatever it is worth, has challenged Governor Nyesom Wike against the backdrop of APC’s power – must – rotate slogan.
The exemplary decision by a political party designed to give the minority Ijaws a chance in the power game may result in the long run to a zoning arrangement which would most likely deposit power in the lap of the Kalabari.
To be fair is to be mature at heart; to give and take. To be fair at heart when it comes to political issues is to accept that all men are born equal. This would mean that both the weak and the strong must be protected by the bonds and the rules of engagement that hold us together.
I am one of those who believe the Ijaws do have a right to govern Rivers State like others from the Upland areas have done.
As Uplanders, we have governed Rivers State for a pretty long time. Would it not be fair if we willingly gave our friends in the Riverine a chance?
20 years has passed since the nation’s return to democracy in 1999. A child born at that time would be a young adult, with complete voting rights. I had written in my popular Column, Polijist, during my days at the Independent Monitor that it would take the Kalabari 20 years to get to the governorship after Ebenezer Isokrari lost out.
By a combination of factors after several years, that prediction made when I was approaching 39 years, is about to materialize. How could such a precise prediction of what would come be possible? Only God and that which inspired that piece that day, 20 years ago, can tell.
I am not a seer but I thank God who is the author of all things and the one who deemed it fit to place a pen in my hand for what is playing out now.
I thank God because I am here alive; and here to witness the possibility of a Kalabari governorship that I once wrote about.
More than that, I thank the Almighty for the gift of a great son of Rivers State who is unafraid to take decisions, painful as they may be in the public interest; a son that is swift in battle; and a son, never afraid to fight when there is a clear need.
Who can tell what tomorrow brings? Who can foretale what tomorrow would be like without God?.
While we commend the APC for coming close to a solution, we urge Amaechi whose names contain the very vibrations relating to the presence or essence of God in all things, not to relent in his bid to take Rivers people to the land of great promise.
To both Dakuku and Dumo, I appeal that they see their role as that of Moses.
Moses set out to lead Israel to the promised land. He never got there but Israel did.
Being human, they will feel pain as well as pressure from their friends and associates but let what has happened be seen as the sacrifice they would make for the emergence of the party of their choice and the birth of a new Rivers State.
Shalom!
