Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has reignited his long-running political rivalry with former Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tonye Cole, delivering a blistering assessment of the businessman and politician during a live television interview.
Speaking on the ONE-ON-ONE segment of Channels Television’s Politics Today, Wike dismissed Cole’s political relevance, personal character and capacity to compete with him politically.
“Tonye Cole doesn’t have what it takes to run an election with me. He is not my match,” Wike said during the interview.
The former Rivers State governor maintained that there was no basis for comparing his political experience and influence with that of the former APC governorship candidate, insisting that Cole lacked both the political weight and standing to engage him on contemporary political issues.
Escalating his criticism, Wike questioned Cole’s integrity, declaring: “Tonye Cole doesn’t have character.”
The FCT minister further stated that discussions about present-day politics could not be conducted on equal terms between them.
“When it comes to politics of today, Tonye Cole cannot sit down with me and discuss it; he has no character,” Wike added.
In one of the interview’s most controversial moments, Wike also remarked that, “I would have put Tonye Cole in jail,” although he did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the statement.
The comments are the latest in a series of public exchanges involving key political actors in Rivers State, where divisions have persisted among supporters of Wike and those aligned with former governor Rotimi Amaechi. Cole is widely regarded as one of Amaechi’s close political associates.
A co-founder of Sahara Group, Cole was the APC governorship candidate in Rivers State during the 2023 elections and has, on several occasions, publicly criticised Wike’s political positioning.
He had previously challenged the FCT minister to formally join the APC rather than remain a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while serving in an APC-led Federal Government.
Political observers say Wike’s latest remarks are likely to fuel further debate within Rivers State’s political landscape as early alignments and calculations ahead of the 2027 elections continue to take shape.
As of the time of filing this report, Cole had not publicly responded to Wike’s latest comments.
