Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, is perfecting plots to stop Arc Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, from participating in the 2023 governorship elections in the state, Elendu Reports can report.
Sources close to the Governor told Elendu Reports that his plan is to use the judiciary to stop Cole from contesting the next year’s election.
This, according to very reliable sources, is the main reason Governor Wike directed the Rivers State Attorney-General to file a nine-count charge of stealing, conspiracy and cheating against Amaechi; Rivers All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate, Tonye Cole; Dr Chamberlain Peterside (Amaechi’s Commissioner for Finance); Sir Augustine Wokocha (Amaechi’s Commissioner of Power); Sahara Energy Resources Limited; NG Powers-HPS Limited and Cenpropsaroten Management Limited.
The charges were filed against Cole and the other defendants on June 20, 2022. The matter is before Justice David Gbasam of the Rivers State High Court.
With the next adjourned court date billed for this Thursday, July 21, Governor Wike has been bragging to people in his close circle that Tonye Cole will be convicted by the Rivers State judiciary sooner than later, a source told Elendu Reports.
“And that would bar Cole from participating in the governorship elections. According to reliable sources, Governor Wike is boasting and bragging that he has control of the judiciary and judges in Rivers State and Nigeria and that they will always do his bidding and deliver judgments that he wants them to do.”
According to one of our sources, Governor Wike’s precise words are that the judiciary and judges in Rivers State and in this country are in his pocket.
“That he (Wike) can do and undo with the judiciary in Nigeria. He brags that he will use the judiciary to stop Tonye Cole and that Cole won’t even be on the ballot for the elections. Wike says that his influence, reach and hold on the judiciary and judges in Nigeria go far beyond Rivers State.”
“And he’s quick to cite as examples 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.”
“Furthermore, to achieve his plot of convicting Tonye Cole in the Rivers State High Court, Governor Wike has painstakingly drawn out an extensive and extremely expensive plot to induce former appointees who served in the administration of his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, to come and testify in court against Tonye Cole and the other Defendants.
The source revealed told Elendu Reports that Governor Wike wants to use these ex-appointees who served in government during Amaechi’s time as governor as prosecution witnesses to build a strong case against Tonye Cole and the other defendants, especially to hoodwink members of the public into believing that Tonye Cole and the other Defendants stole Rivers State money.
“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 Amaechi appointees will be prosecution witnesses against the government they served in. But it is all a carefully plotted ruse to deceive the court and public members. These former government officials would lie to the court as they were told what to say, how to say it and given doctored and made-up documents to present to the court and the public.”
“Governor Wike is making promises to these former appointees who he wants to act as prosecution witnesses against Tonye Cole and the other defendants. Former Amaechi Commissioners, Special Advisers and Assistants are being promised mouth-watering homogenous sums of money and enormous government patronage to give false testimony against Tonye Cole and the other defendants.”
