It has been reported that the Gubernatorial candidate for All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, took down the congratulatory message he wrote to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, days after he was declared winner of the presidential election.
It is speculated that Tonye Cole did this because his congratulatory message was met with criticism from a section of social media users who are largely believed to be loyal to the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi.
The post was deleted about one hour after it was published. Tonye Cole’s quick action in deleting the post shows that Mr. Cole is willing to do whatever it takes to please the people he needs votes from and doesn’t care about his own party’s values. This means that he is likely to change his positions in order to please the people he needs support from, regardless of the consequences.
However, realizing that the post may have offended supporters of Obi’s LP and will cost him the expected votes, he deleted it. This led to questions as to whether he was dissociating himself from Tinubu and APC’s victory in the presidential election, considering that he is running for governorship election with the same party.
Tonye’s post had the potential to be seen as pro-Tinubu, which he perceived could alienate those who are pro-Obi and are against APC’s victory.
By deleting the post, he was essentially trying to dissociate himself from any possible political affiliations and salvage his chances of getting the expected votes
The post he deleted read:
“I join millions of Nigerians to congratulate the President-Elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his resounding and expected victory at the just concluded presidential poll.
“When you emerged as the presidential candidate of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), I had no doubt about your ability to lead our party to our third triumph in the presidency because of your pedigree and intimidating track record.
“Your conquest is an attestation that the majority of Nigerians believe in the milestones you achieved in Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, and your immense contributions to our democracy over the years.
“This victory is very important to Rivers State APC because our state is among the states you won convincingly; this shows that our party is fully on the ground in the state.
I am looking forward to working with you when we replicate the same landslide victory in our dear Rivers State on the 11th of March. – Tonye Cole.”
