The Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Tonye Cole, has explained the reasons he failed to visit the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, during his visit to the state to inaugurate projects.

Cole cited negligence and Governor Nyesom Wike’s nonchalance among others as reasons why he was absent from the inauguration.

Tinubu, on Wednesday visited the state on the invitation of Wike to inaugurate the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola flyover in Port Harcourt, where he described Wike as a man of integrity who abandoned his interest for the nation’s interest.

The APC governorship candidate stated this while speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, adding that Wike should have informed the state chapter of APC if he really wanted them to be part of the programme.

He said, ”I will describe the visit from two sides. The first side of it is the President-elect.

“As a President-elect of Nigeria, he has the right to go anywhere. And the Rivers State Government invited him, and he has come, honoured that invitation, and has come to Rivers State as a President-elect; with that, we have no problem at all.

”Where the issue is is that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, ought also to be the governor of all Rivers people.

“And one of the things that he should have done if he is inviting the President-elect, who is the President-elect of all Nigerians, would have been to call us as APC in Rivers State to inform us that he is inviting the President-elect and would want us to be part of that programme.

”We never got any invitation, I was never invited personally, I was not invited in my private capacity as a candidate of the party, neither was our party, APC, in the State invited to any of those things;

“I believe that is where the difference between the President-elect acting in his capacity as President-elect for all Nigerians and Governor Wike acting in his capacity as a governor of just a particular Rivers people. That is where our disagreement stands,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bola Tinubu on Thursday settled the rift between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Senator Magnus Abe, the 2023 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the state.

Over the years, Wike and Abe had endured a troubled relationship due to their political differences.

In 2022, Abe left the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the SDP to contest the governorship election in Rivers.

Before leaving the APC, Abe was one of the political mobilisers for Tinubu’s presidential ambition.

The former lawmaker is one of the key allies of the president-elect in Rivers state.

However, Tinubu resolved the rift between the two in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital during his two days visit.

The development was disclosed by a Twitter user @Topboychriss.

He wrote: “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu today settled the rift between Governor Nyesom Wike and Senator Magnus Ngei Abe.

“Asiwaju is indeed a unifier. Atiku would have supported one against the other and created more division in the system.

“Thank you sir @officialABAT.