‘This War Continues’ Until You Suspend Wike, Tonye Cole Tells Tinubu

Tonye Cole, the 2023 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, has called on President Bola Tinubu to demonstrate fairness and balance in addressing the political crisis in the state

Cole warned that “this war continues” until all political actors, including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, are suspended.

Speaking as a guest on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’ monitored by THE WHISTLER on Tuesday, Cole urged President Tinubu to take a balanced approach following his declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

“The political work behind the scenes still has to happen,” Cole said.

“The President has to step back and really be the Father of the Nation at this point in time. He has taken a position which he says is for the good of the people, but then the political actors on both sides have not been acting on the good of the people.”

Cole advised that all political actors at both state and federal levels should step down if peace must reign in the state.

“Everybody who is a political actor within the state level should step down, everybody who is a political actor within the federal level should step down, let’s bring everybody to status quo and let’s start building from there,” he stated.

The APC chieftain acknowledged that President Tinubu took “very tough decisions” on the administrative side by declaring a state of emergency but called for political solutions to the crisis.

“The decision politically has not yet been taken in the way that is going to resolve this crisis and until that is done, I’m afraid that this war continues,” Cole warned.

On Tuesday night, President Tinubu announced the state of emergency in a national broadcast, citing Section 305 of the Constitution.

The declaration suspends Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state’s House of Assembly for six months.

In his broadcast, Tinubu explained that his intervention was necessary due to the lingering political crisis in the state and its effects on democracy, security, and citizen welfare.

He cited Governor Fubara’s demolition of the House of Assembly building in December 2023 and failure to rebuild it 14 months later as a constitutional breach.

“…no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.

“In the circumstance, having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers State and the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State having failed to make a request to me as President to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March, 2025 and I so do.

“By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months.

“In the meantime, I hereby nominate Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as an administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State. For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate,” Tinubu declared.

However, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the declaration as “political manipulation and outright bad faith.”

Atiku accused President Tinubu of being “a vested partisan actor” in the political crisis.

The crisis in Rivers started as a rift between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, who had claimed that the fight was because Fubara attempted to hijack his “political structure” in the state.