Tonye Cole, the All-Progressives Congress governorship candidate for Rivers State, alleges political thugs attacked him on Monday and prevented him from entering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Port Harcourt.
Tonye Cole told ARISE News on Monday, “I’ve never been more ashamed of Rivers State as I saw today.”
He said that he and his team decided to proceed to INEC’s office with the Party Chairman, the Women Leader, and the Youth Leader to retrieve the party’s Certified True Copy (CTC) documents despite hearing that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had gathered thugs to block them.
PDP supporters greeted them at INEC Officer. “We get there, the next minute, they are standing in front of me and telling me that they are going to arrest me, and they are not going to allow me to get in and I should get back,” he said. “They began to throw stones, they destroyed our vehicles.” His security detail had to pull him and his team out of the area and back to APC’s Office, where they were met with more violence.
“That is our document,” the APC candidate stated, returning for his document. Public office INEC
“I want to go back to INEC office and get my paperwork today, and when I go back, I hope that the Nigerian police force would have done what is right to guarantee that I can execute my responsibility as a senior politician in Rivers State to collect documents that belong to me in INEC possession.”
If he was unable to retrieve the CTC, he said he would approach the INEC Chairman in Abuja.
He responded, “If you as the head are willing to carry cutlasses and inform everybody that this cutlass is going to be used against your opponents, then you have already set the tone for what type of government you will have.
Followers will change. Rivers State needs peace, growth, investments, and favourable talk about the state.
“I bring that transformation and Rivers State is looking for it,” he stated.