2023: Wike Allegedly Finalises Plot To Stop Rivers APC Governorship Candidate
Less than eight months to the 2023 governorship election, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state is allegedly putting finishing touches to his desperate plot to, again, stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the south-south state, Tonye Cole, from participating in the election.
Legit.ng gathered that just like in 2019, Wike’s plans, it was learned, is to use the judiciary again, starting from the Rivers state High Court to remove Cole from the ballot in the 2023 elections.
Source: Facebook
This, according to very reliable sources, is the main reason Wike directed the state Attorney-General to file a nine-count charge of stealing, conspiracy and cheating against former governor Rotimi Amaechi; Tonye Cole; Dr. Chamberlain Peterside (Amaechi’s commissioner for finance); Sir Augustine Wokocha (Amaechi’s commissioner for power); Sahara Energy Resources Limited; NG Powers-HPS Limited and Cenpropsaroten Management Limited.
The sources said the charges were filed against Cole and the other defendants on June 20, 2022, adding that the matter is before Justice David Gbasam of Rivers state High Court.
According to the sources, with the next adjourned court date billed for Thursday, July 21, Wike has been bragging to people in his close circle that Cole would be convicted by the Rivers state judiciary sooner than later, saying that the conviction would bar Cole from participating in the governorship elections.
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The sources added that Wike reportedly said that he has control of the judiciary in Rivers state and Nigeria, bragging that they would always do his bidding and deliver judgements in his favour.
They added that Wike said he would use the judiciary to stop Tonye Cole and that Cole won’t even be on the ballot for the elections.
The governor was quoted to have said that his influence, reach and hold on the judiciary and judges in Nigeria go far beyond Rivers state, saying that he’s quick to cite examples of how he won the VAT case against the federal government in a federal high court and his winning of the 17 oil wells case against Imo state in the Supreme Court.
Amaechi's former aides may be use as prosecution witnesses
It was also alleged that to achieve his plot of convicting Cole in the Rivers state high court, Wike has, painstakingly, drawn out an expensive plot to induce former appointees who served in the administration of his predecessor, Amaechi, to testify in court against Cole and the other defendants.
The ex-appointees who served in government during Amaechi’s time as governor, according to the source, would be used as prosecution witnesses to build a strong case against Cole and the other defendants, especially to hoodwink members of the public into believing that Rivers state money was stolen by Cole and the other defendants.
The sources said:
“For Wike, it is principally about the optics, to build public opinion and perception against Tonye Cole and the other defendants. So, the trick is when members of the public see past government appointees, who were appointed by one of the defendants, coming to court to testify against Tonye Cole and the other defendants, that would ostensibly make the story of fraud and corruption somehow credible.
“These former appointees of Amaechi will be acting as prosecution witnesses against the government they served in. But it is all a carefully-plotted ruse to deceive the court and members of the public. These former government officials would be lying to the court as they will be told what to say, how to say it, and given doctored and made-up documents to present to the court and the public”.
The sources further stated that the governor is already making promises to the former appointees who would be lured into acting as prosecution witnesses against Tonye Cole and the other defendants.
It was also learnt that former Amaechi's commissioners, special advisers and assistants are being promised mouth-watering sums of money and enormous government patronage to give false testimony against Cole and the other defendants.
PDP's Wike meets powerful APC northern ex-governor
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Governor Nyesom Wike's romance with other political parties after he lost the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s vice presidential slot persists.
The Rivers strong man on Tuesday, July 19, met with a former governor of Zamfara, Abdullaziz Yari, in Port Harcourt, the state's capital.
The closed-door meeting between Wike and Yari was held in the latter's private house in Rumuepriokom community in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers.
Source: Legit.ng
