RIVERS 2019: HOW AMAECHI CONVINCED ME TO RUN AS APC CANDIDATE — TONYE COLE

Tonye Cole

Business mogul and 2019 Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Tonye Cole, in this interview, says he hopes to arrest the culture of violence, endemic poverty and hopelessness in the state if elected as governor. Cole also explains how the Minister of Transportation and a former governor of the state, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, lured him into the race.

On the controversy over alleged his imposition by Amaechi as governorship candidate!

As far as I am concerned, there is no controversy. Nobody can impose anybody. What you have is that you had a primary election. You had people that went for that primary. You had people who won and those who lost. And everybody, at the end of the day, had legitimate right to agree or to object. As humans, you cannot impose anybody. The human spirit rejects imposition. Any position taken, you have those for it and those against. And that is what I think we are seeing. And that’s life, you can’t please everybody.

On Amaechi influencing him to run!

He (Amaechi) spoke to me a lot about it. He said to me there was need for a different type of politics in Rivers. That he and the people of Rivers were yearning for peace, yearning for wealth creation and distribution. They were yearning for a leader that can impact people at the grassroots and make them feel that the money that comes to the state, which is a lot, can actually impact their lives on daily basis. Rivers State is yearning at this moment for someone who they know is not going to steal their money. And that is why I took it.

On the possibility of business interests involved!

As far as I know, Rotimi Amaechi and I have never done any business together. I ran a business for 23 years. In that business I dealt with government at all levels, in Nigeria, Ghana, 23 African countries. I have dealt with ministers, governors, presidents. Now, how many of them would I have business relationships with? It is absolutely impossible. I have no business relationship with Amaechi because if we do that from the type of business that we run, that means we are already in trouble. We were part of a group called Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, essentially a World Economic Forum group working to ensure that business is separated from government. If people say they want to look into business relationships, feel free, go ahead and investigate.

On abandoning multi-million dollar businesses to face risk of politics!

Once you build institutions and build the business, you are comfortable knowing that the business can run on its own without any problem. We have built a very solid business. Once you’ve done that, you can move to the next thing. Business in itself has a limit as to how far you can help people. We employ about 3, 800 people. In politics, on the other hand, you are dealing with millions of people. You are going into a realm where you can touch and make a difference in the lives of millions of people on daily basis.

So the first thing in front of everybody was to resign from every single company, walk away from everything I have done because I know that it will survive. And people say the Constitution does not say you should do that but I said no, we need to be able to separate completely. I don’t want to look back. I have finished that aspect of my life, so it’s easy to move on. I go to sleep and sleep completely because I know that the business I have built can stand on its own.

On renewing unity in Rivers!

I am doing ward rounds now. Going into politics, one of the things I first noticed as I went in is that everybody is angry with everybody. Nobody wants to talk to anybody. You belong to this party or cling to this faction. I have never seen a place, a home, an institution, a state, a country that can ever progress in bitterness and anger. The cure to that is that, first, you bring everybody together. The first thing we have been telling the people is the assurance that we are creating a government that is not of bitterness. We can compete. If we lose we lose fairly, win we win fairly. Once we win it is not an exclusion of anybody, that as soon as I win, we can no longer see anybody.

On the Governor Wike challenge!

I am a match for Nyesom Wike because, at the table, he has things he has done, I have things I have done. I have discussions I am going to put before the people; he has things to put before the people. At the end of the day, everybody goes to the ballot box, and who makes the decision? The decision is going to be made by Rivers people. And that is the beauty of democracy.

On volatile Rivers politics being unfit for gentlemen!

I don’t agree with that notion. Until you come face to face with a mother that has lost a child in violence, until you came face with face with a woman who lost her husband and now a widow at 23, 24, until you come face to face with children who have no parents because political violence took them, until you come face to face with grandmothers who lost their children, grandchildren, in-laws all in one day because of political violence, what you see are people who are fed up with the cycle of violence. And they are now looking for an alternative that is totally different.

Withdraw from politics or be withdrawn, Wike warns monarchs

Then you see that politics in Nigeria has totally changed. I am preaching peace absolutely, because I have seen people come to me on wheelchairs, shot, paralyzed. A young boy was paralyzed at 15 because his father was an APC member that held a meeting. When you come across these people, you know you are sitting in a community among a people who are reminded that violence has not paid them.

On the chances of winning Rivers governorship with the backing of Amaechi under a divided APC!

I am not distracted at all. My focus, simply, is on majority of the people in Rivers who have suffered greatly from devastation, floods; suffered from elections violence; they have lost loved ones; they are suffering aggravated poverty. I have never seen poverty in Rivers as bad as I have seen it now. Unemployment in the state is one of the highest in the country today.

I see able, young men sitting down in the afternoon doing nothing; people sitting down and have turned to beggars because factories have folded up and left. The first step is to bring peace to the place. Without peace, Rivers cannot make progress. By reaching across the divides and letting everyone know that it is not politics of death, I am the reconciliation because I am a totally different type of politician.

On connecting with the Rivers people as a perceived unknown face!

The first thing I have started doing is embarking on ward rounds. I am stepping my feet into every single ward, looking at the people in the eye. I am going into social contract with the people, asking them the basic questions: What is your concern? What worries you? And what are the worries I hear? Number one, across board, there is violence. They are yearning for security and peace, and I am the reconciliation.

BREAKING: VICE PRESIDENT, YEMI OSINBAJO , NAMED IN A N33 BILLION CORRUPTION SCANDAL, AHEAD Of THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS

The House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, has indicted Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, accusing him of illegally approving N5.8 billion North-East Intervention Fund, which the Lawmakers said was mismanaged by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

The Committee called for the sack of the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Maihaja, for alleged fraud, corruption, and embezzlement of N33 billion Emergency Intervention fund.

The House Committee, held a public hearing four months ago, on the alleged breach of public trust by NEMA.

Details...later...

TONYE COLE'S CONVOY KILLS TWO WOMEN (DISTURBING PHOTOS)

Tonye Cole

The convoy of APC Gubernatorial candidate, Tonye Cole has allegedly crushed two women to death in Rivers State.

According to an Eyewitness, Kelvin Mopho, Cole's convoy reportedly knocked down two women named Mrs Enigheni Inyele and Mrs Idiami Umor, all from Emoh, in Abua Odual LGA of the state.

Mopho wrote on his social media page;

"Today Is A Black Friday For The Okpeden Clan Ward 8 Of Abua Odual LGA As The Factional APC Governorship Candidate Tonye Cole Kills Two Women Named Mrs Enigheni Inyele And Mrs Idiami Umor All From Emoh, Due To Reckless Driving And Political Desperation As He Commenced His Campaign Tour In Rivers State.

Eye Witness Has It That People Of The Clan And Indeed Ward 8 Rejected Tonye Cole With His Entourage Which In Anger While Trying To Zoom Off From The Ward, The Two Innocent Friends Were Knocked Down By Tonye Cole And His Angry Entourage. The Two Corpses Have Been Deposited At The Abua General Hospital As At The Time Of This Information..."
 

SENIOR LAWYER BAGS 7 YEARS IMPRISONMENT

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Maiduguri Zonal Office, yesterday, secured the conviction of Ahmed Mai-aji, who was re-arraigned on a-three-count charge before Justice Haruna Yusuf Mshelia of the State High Court Maiduguri, Borno for the offences of criminal breach of trust and cheating to the tune of N3million.

The accused person, who is a senior lawyer, was entrusted with a land document for the purpose of intervening in a land dispute between the complainant and another party, dishonestly dispossessed the owner of the plot in violation of the trust the complainant had for the accused.

Recall that Barr Mai-aji was re-arraigned as a result of an application brought by his counsel, Barr SM Konto, seeking an order, declining jurisdiction to hear and determine the charge on the ground of bias or likelihood of bias by Justice Fadawu Umar.

In his ruling on 16th May 2017, Justice Fadawu Umar said, “the issue of bias arises as a result of judicial rulings delivered by this court on the grounds of the application brought by the defence counsel for lack of jurisdiction by the EFCC to initiate any criminal matter before this court and the refusal of bail stands.

“The registrar of the court should return the case file to the chief judge of the state and I hereby decline jurisdiction not to hear the case. The accused be further remanded in prison custody”.

On Tuesday, June 13, 2017, Mai-aji was re-arraigned by the EFCC before Justice Haruna Yusuf Mshelia. Prosecution counsel, Khalid Sanusi, in proving the case, tendered seven different exhibits and five witnesses testified against the convict.

In his judgment, Justice Mshelia stated, “the court hereby found you guilty of the offences of criminal breach of trust and cheating”.

Count three of the charge reads: “That you, Ahmed Mai-aji, sometime in 2016 at Maiduguri Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly induced one Baba Yusuf Bukar to deliver to you the sum of N3,000,000.00 in the name of payment for a plot of land situated at Pompamari Light Industrial Layout, Maiduguri, Borno State, covered by grant of Right of Occupancy N0:BO/6057 of 79.1981, which was kept in your custody for the purpose of discharging your responsibility without any right to sell same, contrary to and punishable under sections 320 and 321 of penal Code Law Cap 102, Laws of the Borno State of Nigeria, 1994 respectively.”

“On count one, the court sentences you to five years in prison without an option of fine. And equally finds you not guilty and therefore, discharges and acquits you on count two.”

“On count three, the court finds you guilty and convicts you to two years in prison without an option of fine and the sentence is to run concurrently”, Justice Mshelia ruled.

IHUOMA LINDA EJIOR TIES NUPTIAL KNOT WITH TINSEL ACTOR

Nollywood actress Ihuoma Linda Ejior (Bimpe) marries another co-Tinsel Actor Ibrahim Suleiman (Damini). The Actor and Actress do act together in the popular soap opera Tinsel as lovers (Bimpe and Damini) and today, have been joined together as husband and wife.  

Adesua Etomi Wellington was so excited and showed how happy and grateful to God for bringing their union to pass. She been a close friend to the couple has been very supportive in all preparation for the wedding. 

Other colleagues also showed their support and happiness to the union especially the Tinsel family. 

Congratulations! 

I AM NOT BEHIND OSHIOMHOLE’S TRAVAILS –AMOSUN

President Muhammadu Buhari and the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, are meeting again inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Amosun is one of the governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress aggrieved by the outcome of the party’s primary elections.

The party’s National Working Committee refused to recognise his preferred candidate for the governorship race.

The meeting was believed to be a continuation of efforts aimed at resolving the crisis that trailed the primary elections of the ruling All Progressives Congress across the country.

Amosun and his counterparts, Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), have been at the forefront of those campaigning for the removal of Adams Oshiomhole as the party’s national chairman for the role he allegedly played during the primary elections.

The Ogun State Governor, however, in an interview with State House correspondents on Thursday, denied being responsible for Oshiomhole’s reported arrest and interrogation by the Department of State Services.

He said he would never hide behind a finger if he needed to fight.

When asked that media reports suggested that he and Okorocha orchestrated Oshiomhole’s investigation, Amosun said, “I think you are probably giving me an oversight role and I am not a security person, so clearly I think that question will not be for me.

“I don’t have to hide under a finger to fight. If there is need for me to put my views across, you know me by now that I will do it.”

When he was also asked to react to the reports that the APC chairman has fled the country, the governor said, “I have told you that you are asking me questions that I am not well suited for. The one that I have to talk about, we have said it loud and clear that it doesn’t even need adding anything.”

Amosun has been confronting Oshiomhole over the decision of the party’s National Working Committee to recognise Dapo Abiodun as the governorship candidate in his state as against his preferred candidate, Abiodun Akinlade.

SUPREME COURT BARS RIVERS APC CHAIRMAN, FLAG-AMACHREE, FROM FOREIGN MEDICAL TRIP

Ojukaye Flag-Amachree

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a motion by the chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, asking to be allowed to travel to Dubai for medical check-up.

Flag-Amachree is standing trial on allegation of murder of a man during the 2015 election in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of the state.

Giving his ruling, Justice Inyang Okoro held that the application lacked merit, adding that the applicant was being prosecuted for a murder case.

Okoro noted that the “medical update letter,” dated December 15, 2016, had no connection with the type 2 diabetes melitus which Flag-Amachree claimed he had.

Also, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who presided over the panel, expressed worry why Flag-Amachree’s trial had not commenced fully after 25 adjournments.

The CJN said from the records of the court, Flag-Amachree had not appeared in court all the while.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Flag-Amachree’s five charges bordering on the alleged murder of Iminabo Dokubo and attempted murder of Ipalibo Jackson is pending at the High Court in Port Harcourt.

The applicant had approached the court with a motion on notice pursuant to sections 33, 36(5) and (6), and Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Flag-Amachree had sought an order granting him leave to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to enable him meet up with the medical appointment scheduled with Dr. George Davis.

He had also prayed for the release of his passport with issuance No. A04003142, deposited with the registrar of the Court of Appeal as part of the conditions of the bail granted him,

The applicant was, however, refused bail on May 26, 2016 by a High Court in Port Harcourt, but had the decision set aside on November 24, 2016 by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt.

Flag-Amachree stated that following his detention and subsequent release by the appellate court, his health had deteriorated, leading to his collapse and resuscitation on various occasions both in and out of prison.

The applicant averred that the Saudi German Hospital had agreed to treat him and therefore scheduled an appointment with him for February 16, 2016 at Dubai, UAE.

Flag-Amachree said he could not meet the appointment, as his passport had been with the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt.

He stated that a similar application had earlier been filed at the Court of Appeal on January 24, 2017 but was struck out on February 28 of the same year.

(NAN)

HOW WIFE DESTROYED WEDDING PICTURES BEFORE KILLING HUSBAND

Udeme Otike-Odibi and her late husband's wedding photo

A house help and a prosecution witness in an ongoing trial of a female lawyer, Udeme Otike-Odibi, who allegedly murdered her  husband, told a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere how she found the couple’s wedding pictures torn and thrown in the dustbin months before he was murdered.

The house help, Blessing Austin, while giving her evidence told the court that in December, 2017, when she went to clean the deceased and defendant’s room, she saw the couple’s wedding picture turn and thrown into the dust bin, so she packed and threw it away.

Udeme, 48, is facing a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a corpse.

She was arraigned on June 13, by the Lagos State Government and she had pleaded not guilty to the offences and was remanded at Kirikiri prison.

The prosecutor during arraignment told the court that Udeme committed the alleged offences on May 3, at Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos.

The prosecution said that Udeme stabbed her husband and mutilated his corpse by cutting off his genitals.

The offences committed are Punishable Under Sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Led in evidence by Titilayo Shitta-Bey, the Director of Public Prosecution DPP, Blessing said: “On December 4, 2017, she travelled outside the country and came back in April, during Easter, since she came back her character changed towards her husband, she wasn’t cooking for her husband, she cooks only her food and her husband buys his own food.

“I normally clean the deceased and defendant’s house twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays adding that her resumption time was 8 am and closes at 8pm.

“On 28 of April when I came to clean their house, I heard when Udeme, started quarreling with her husband that why did he send his daughter to school outside the country, my madam, later told my oga that he should lower his voice that I was downstairs, so I could no longer hear their argument when they loved their voice,” Austin said.

DEDUCT TITHES FROM WORKER’S SALARY AND FORWARD TO CHURCH - BISHOP TELLS GOVT.

Most Reverend Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, a Catholic Archbishop of Kampala, Uganda, has proposed that the central government deducts 10% from the monthly salaries of workers, and forward the deductions directly to the church.

He stated this at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Rubaga during mass, according to Citizen TV. He said non-payment of tithes affects project development in the church.

His words: “Whenever we ask for tithe, everyone gives only what they have at that time. But the Bible says a tenth of whatever you earn belongs to the church.
Give me your support as I front this proposal because it is good for us.

Aren’t you tired of putting money in the baskets all the time?” Lwanga said he wanted Uganda to toe the line of Germany, where citizens who are registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews have a church tax (Kirchensteuer) of 8 to 9% deducted from their annual income.

The church tax is collected by the government and channeled to the respective faiths.

“I was told Germans make agreements with their government to deduct monthly tithe from their salaries and forward it to the church and this money they use to build and renovate their churches,” he added.

'N30,000 MINIMUM WAGE WILL CAUSE INFLATION' – UMAHI

The Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman of the Southeast Governors’ Forum, David Umahi has raised alarm over the new minimum wage of N30,000.00, warning that the new pay rise could trigger off hyper inflation in the country.

Umahi, who gave the warning while inaugurating his campaign organisation, the Divine Mandate Organisation, said, “we are approaching this issue of minimum wage wrongly.”

He noted that the N30,000 new minimum wage was not enough to carter for workers’ welfare, urging civil servants to look beyond the new pay rise.

“If what we are being told is correct and some states are using up to 90 per cent of their resources to pay salaries, if what we are told is correct that ASUU is going on strike because ASUU is saying that the budget for education is only 7 per cent against 20 per cent. So, if you put these two sections together, it is 110 per cent. We are just talking about this section alone- education, other sectors are there, health, security votes, water, light and so on. We are just talking of education and workers’ salaries alone.

“The two cannot mix; they cannot work until we are able to sit down and think how we can run this country. I do not believe that all the resources of this nation are correctly collected. I believe that if we collect in honesty the resources of this country, we will have enough to take care of our workers and we will have enough to take care of our heath, education and others.

“Civil servants should look beyond minimum wage component. Even the minimum wage of 30,000d what can it do? It will cause inflation and that inflation is going to sweep out whatever gain you think you have.

“Till we sit down in this country and look at all sides and agree that this is how we are going to do it otherwise, we will ground this country”, he stated.

Umahi, however, said he was not afraid to contest with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

“If I were in the opposition, I will be afraid to say I am contesting election because considering the type of structure we have on ground, no ordinary man will be able to build it. It is God and Holy Spirit that made it possible.

“The people that say they are contesting election, some of them cannot define budget, they don’t even know what GDP is. They make promises like making a cross without ground,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday declared his government’s readiness to work towards implementing the new national minimum wage agreed by the tripartite committee.

Buhari gave the assurance shortly after receiving the report of the National Minimum Wage Committee set up to recommend a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers on 27th November 2017.

“I want to assure you all that we will immediately put in place the necessary machinery that will close out these open areas. Our plan is to transmit the Executive Bill to the National Assembly for passage within the shortest possible time. I am fully committed to having a new National Minimum Wage Act in the very near future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has declared that the federal government has a cordial working relationship with labour unions in the country.

Mohammed, who said this in Abuja Tuesday, said the federal government and the organised labour had been able to amicably address the recent stalemate arising from the implementation of a new minimum wage for workers.