The announcement of Sahara Group co-founder and former Executive Director, Tonye Cole, as the likely candidate to fly the All Progressives Congress flag in Rivers State has continued to attract rave reviews. Not a few people have seen the Rotimi Amaechi-imposed aspirant as a political masterstroke; other critics have not missed an opportunity to lecture on how boardroom politics and real life politics share very little and negligible similarities, that Tonye might be a square peg in a round hole after all if things are not managed well.
The flag might have dropped on Tonye’s lap without lifting a finger; he might have found favour in the former Governor of Rivers State and incumbent Minister of Transportation but Tonye needs to urgently carry out an urgent character rebuilding surgery on himself if he wants to go far politically, and the area the surgical rebuilding should focus on is his impetuous manner of speaking.
Tonye’s major Achilles Heel is his mouth which needs taming. He has been found to be a man with little or no rule over his tongues when he is provoked, no matter how slightly. It is believed in his friends’ circle that his untamed mouth has been the reason he is more of a loner than extrovert. His employees have equally corroborated this insinuation.
Not a few people wonder how he manages to sleep at night and live at peace with himself, even as he ignores the wants and miseries of his impoverished kith and kin. Tonye’s vanity is unprecedented, according to very close sources to him. He simply chooses to live for himself and he spares no expense in giving himself a treat.
No time is more auspicious for him to work on himself as he goes into a terrain hitherto unfamiliar. He will be better for it if he can do away with his haughtiness and be on the same page with everyone, especially those whose governorship ambition has been sacrificed on the altar of his candidacy.
He needs to be mindful of the fact the likes of Dakuku Peterside and Magnus Abe, who have heavily invested in their respective 2019 projects, are not expected to be happy and all-embracing of him, having been foisted on them. Tonye’s aloofness is now a vice as he would have to reach out to all vested interests, and knowing what to say at the right time is a virtue he should imbibe.
Meanwhile, Amaechi’s single-handed imposition of Tonye has been upbraided as a lesson on how not to be a godfather. Amaechi has been playing god in Rivers State politics since 2015. It is on record that he pointedly told Senator Magnus Abe, his estranged ally, that he does not know who the governor of Rivers would be in 2019 but he knows that Abe would only be governor over his dead body.
In his choice of Tonye, Amaechi reportedly did not consult any of the party chieftains before he decided on Tonye. If his candidate scales the hurdle of the APC primary, the major hurdle will be how to sell him to the Rivers electorate and oust the incumbent Governor Nyesom Wike.