Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 Rivers State election, has explained why Governor Siminalayi Fubara may have disregarded President Bola Tinubu, as the President said in his broadcast on Tuesday.

Daily Sun previously reported that President Tinubu addressed the country on Tuesday night, particularly in response to the political turmoil in Rivers State.

During his speech, the former Lagos governor proclaimed a state of emergency in Rivers State.

Expressing concern over the political turmoil engulfing the oil-rich state, Tinubu stated that he was ?greatly disturbed? and accused Governor Fubara of demolishing the State House of Assembly building.

He added that after evaluating the situation, he had decided to ?declare a state of emergency from 18 March.?

The President had also said: ?I have made personal interventions between the contending parties for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, but my efforts have been largely ignored by the parties to the crisis.?

Commenting on this, Cole stated, ?I believe both parties have to be punished? if they truly ignored the President.

He added: ?But I don?t think that the President said that?if I heard him right. I may be wrong; I may have to look at it again. But if I heard him correctly, I believe he said that the person or the side that was ignoring him was the governor and his team. That he had spoken to them, and they ignored him.

?I believe that?s what I heard. If that is the case, then the question would be: what were the conditions that were put forward that then led him to be ignored?

?A president is a very powerful force, and if a state governor chooses to ignore a president, then it must mean one of two things. Either the solution presented to the governor was so one-sided that he felt it was unfair and not worth obeying, or he felt that the solution did not address the issue at hand at all.

?Now, whether to ignore it or go back to address it would be a different issue.? (THE SUN)

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