July 20, (THEWILL) – As the race to the 2023 governorship election in River State gathers momentum, a grand plan by incumbent governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, to frustrate the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) from the race has been exposed.
Governor Wike, who is still ruminating over his political future, following his recent failure to clinch the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is allegedly perfecting plans to stop the state APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, from participating in the 2023 governorship election.
Wike’s plans, according to sources in the state, is to resort to his 2019 tactics of using the judiciary to stop Cole from the race. Now, starting from the Rivers State High Court, Wike had allegedly directed the Rivers 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 charges were filed against the defendants on June 20, 2022 and the matter, which is before Justice David Gbasam of Rivers State High Court, is billed for next hearing on Thursday, July 21, with Wike allegedly bragging to his close confidants that Cole would soon be nailed by the court.
It was also gathered that the River State governor has also been telling members of his close circle, allegedly, that he has great influence on the judiciary in Rivers State and everywhere in Nigeria that judges would always do whatever he wants.
Wike, who is also a lawyer, has also been allegedly bragging about how Rivers State won the case against the Federal Government over the control of Value Added Tax (VAT) in a Federal High Court and his victory in another case with the Federal Government over the 17 oil wells against Imo State in the Supreme Court. He is assuring his aides that Cole, the APC Governorship flag bearer, would not even be on the ballot, let alone, take part in the election.
Moreover, Wike has, allegedly embarked on a grand plot to induce former appointees in the administration of his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, to testify in court against Cole and the other defendants.
Impeccable sources in the state maintained that the plan is to allegedly induce Amaechi’s former aides as prosecution witnesses, to build a strong case against Cole and the other defendants, with the objectives of making Rivers people believe that money belonging to the State was stolen by Cole and the other defendants.
“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”, a source close to the development said.
Already, Wike is allegedly using financial inducements to woo these former appointees into his grand plan of using them as prosecution witnesses to testify against Tonye Cole and the other defendants at the next adjourned hearing of the case on July 21.
Efforts to get the reaction of Kelvin Ebri, Personal Assistant on Media to Governor Wike, were not successful on Wednesday, as he did not pick the telephone calls made to his phone and did not also respond to the WhatsApp message sent to him.
