Former Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Tonye Cole, has claimed that Governor Siminalayi Fubara aligned himself with a faction of the party that he described as illegitimate.
In a recent interview with Channels Television, Cole insisted that the Emeka Beke-led group represents the legitimate leadership of the APC in Rivers State.
Fubara, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the APC in December 2025, received a warm welcome from the party’s national leadership.
He was also presented with an APC membership card by Tony Okocha, who heads a faction of the party in Rivers.
Reacting to this, Cole argued that Fubara had made the “wrong” choice by associating with the Okocha faction.
He stated that the governor cannot be lawfully recognised as an APC member in Rivers until he aligns himself with the Beke-led faction.
Cole added that, while Fubara’s defection was a shrewd political move, the process of his acceptance into the party was flawed:
“Who is welcoming him into the APC? Who issued him the membership card? Under which group is he registered? Tony Okocha is not a legally recognised faction of the APC, and that is the problem.
While he may be acknowledged nationally, the faction that welcomed him is not legally recognised.
He should come to us, and we will welcome him because we have the legal standing to do so. Right now, he is not in a secure position.”
He further warned that the APC must take care to avoid a repeat of the 2019 electoral crisis, when a court barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising the party’s candidates in Rivers State.
Rivers: Fubara not safe where he is – Tonye Cole