Two aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, Kingsley Fubara Hart and Dabota Godswill Jumbo, have moved to galvanize party faithful and their supporters ahead of the 2023 general elections.

This indication became public on Sunday, May 1, 2022 when the two aspirants issued a statement in Bonny, Rivers State reaffirming their loyalty to the party and their determination to work with the party leadership to ensure victory at the polls.   

Kingsley Fubara Hart is vying for the Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, while Dabota Godswill-Jumbo is contesting for the Bonny Constituency seat in the Rivers State House of Assembly, respectively, come February 25 and March 11, 2023.

In a statement signed by both of them, titled ‘Update On Recent Happenings Following Our Last Press Conferences Of Sunday, April 17th, 2022’, Hart and Godswill-Jumbo asserted that the party, which they said “remains supreme”, was “strongly united on all fronts”, informing that “all differences arising from the party tickets have been amicably resolved”.  

“We do hereby pledge our total loyalty to the party and state that the party remains supreme.”  

“The APC Bonny Chapter is together and strongly united on all fronts as all differences arising from the party tickets have been amicably resolved.”

Referencing the misunderstandings that arose from the process of arriving at who flies the party’s flags in the forthcoming elections, the two candidates, who were returned as flagbearers having been given right of first refusal as ordered by the party leadership in the State, expressed regrets over the unfortunate developments, saying that “we take full responsibility for our actions which unfortunately offended the LGA party leadership”.

They stated that they acted hurriedly in expressing their displeasure without first exhausting the party’s internal conflict resolution mechanisms, stressing that “we apologize to the party leadership, members at the LGA and our teeming supporters”.  

In a brief chat with Kristina Reports, Kingsley Fubara Hart and Dabota Godswill Jumbo, jointly reaffirmed their confidence in the leader of the APC in Bonny LGA and former Commissioner for Transport in the State, George Fubara Tolofari and his leadership team in taking the party to victory in the coming polls.

They also expressed their appreciation to erstwhile consensus candidates of the party in the area, Edward Pepple, who is former Chairman of Bonny LGA, and Ene Longjohn, a former Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC Bonny Chapter, for their equanimity in accepting the decision of the party to return them as candidates.

They praised their maturity, sportsmanship and profound confidence in the party leadership, saying “they have modeled the right disposition of true party men and patriots who want the best for the party and for Bonny people”.

Recall that Kingsley Fubara Hart and Dabota Godswill Jumbo were candidates of the party for the Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, and Bonny Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, in the 2019 general elections but had their ambitions frustrated when the APC was knocked off the ballot due to judicial fracas from some aggrieved party faithful.

A chieftain of the APC Bonny Chapter, who preferred anonymity, hinted Kristina Reports that “given the dearth of dividends of democracy in the past years since our brothers on the other side took over power, we’re more than poised to return power to the APC,” adding that “we cannot afford to leave the good people of Bonny and Degema in the hands of a party that lacks developmental vision and bereft of governance imperatives; that would be suicidal and a disservice to the people”.