Tonye Cole, Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was in Bonny Local Government Area in continuation of his ward-to-ward consultative visit as part of his needs assessment drive.

These series of interactions, the director general of the APC/Tonye Cole campaign organization, Chidi Lloyd, Ph.D., explained would guide the articulation of his policy thrust when he eventually emerges governor. 

In a complete departure from the previous situation where candidates for governorship and other positions only visit the local government area to an already arranged gathering, Tonye Cole, founder and immediate past chief executive officer (CEO) of Sahara Group, a consortium in the oil and gas, aviation, and other sectors of the economy, arrived Bonny Island in outboard engines powered speedboats on Tuesday, November 13, 2018.

After spending the whole of Tuesday, moving from ward 1 to ward 6, the billionaire business mogul headed out next day, Wednesday into the creeks to visit various towns and villages that comprise the riverine axis of Bonny LGA.

From ward to ward, the people spoke on the challenges facing them and identifying projects and programmes that would assuage those challenges.

Spokesman of the APC in ward 1, Darlington Banigo, on behalf of the people of the ward asked for drainage system, empowerment of their people through education, job creation and business incentives, support for fisheries and fish farming, education, and shore protection from the Coal Beach area to Igoni-Polo.  

At ward 2, the people of the area speaking through the APC leader there, Edward Hart, who is also the party’s Vice Chairman in Bonny LGA, listed construction of interlinked drainages around the various communities comprising the ward and evacuation of refuse dumpsite and construction of embankments to checkmate erosiotheirDappa-Posie and Igoni-Polo communities as their needs.

The people of Ward 3, comprising Aganya, Ayambo, Iwoama, Macaulay, and Orosikiri communities, requested the APC guber candidate, through the leader of the APC there, Emmanuel John-Jumbo, a former Vice Chairman of Bonny LGA, to construct a town hall and drainage system for Aganya and Iwoama; interlocking of Ayambo community square, drainage system, and construction of a link road connecting Aganya and Ayambo communities; construction of internal roads and drainage system at Orosikiri and Macaulay; and empowerment of their people through job creation and business incentives.

When he got to Ward 4, the APC House of Assembly candidate, Dabota Jumbo, on behalf of the people, asked for drainage system around the area to checkmate the incessant flooding challenges faced by the people, waste management, intervention in dealing the environmental challenges facing the area, human capital development through education, job creation and scholarships, a link road, upgrade of the only secondary health facility in Bonny LGA, the Zonal Hospital, Bonny, and industrialization.  

The APC ward chairman in Finima, Ward 5, Samuel Ibigoni Brown, who spoke for the people enumerated shore protection, improvement in security, and job creation as their key challenges.

In ward 6, a former lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Tonye Longjohn, on behalf of the people, asked for erosion control at Abalamabie; completion of the link road connecting Coconut Estate, Oguede and Abalamabie communities; a civic centre and health centre at Akiama; a link road connecting Akiama to Macaulay; construction of a landing jetty at Coconut Estate; construction of a bridge linking Allison and Abraham-Hart; and a link road between Allison and Abraham-Hart communities.

At Dema Abbey, ward 7, the people through the APC leader there, Omuso Abbey, a former Chairman of Bonny LGA, asked for a landing jetty, shore protection, education, electricity, a foot bridge connecting Dema-Abbey and Halliday communities.  

The people of ward 8, at Greens-Iwoama, through the APC leader in the ward, Emmanuel Green, acknowledged Tonye Cole as the first candidate ever to be received there, while asking for electricity from John-Jumbo to Dan-Jumbo, erosion control, shore protection, health centre with a resident doctor, jobs, human capacity development, and water supply.

At Otobie, ward 9, comprising Inyoba-Ama, Ererekiri, Nunabie, among others, the people through their APC leaders, Israel Pepple, and Adiesigha Halliday, Chairman and Organizing Secretary of the Bonny LGA chapter of the APC, respectively, asked for construction of interlinking roads in the area, canalization of the creeks connecting Jack Manilla Pepple and other villages, jobs, and reactivation of the moribund police and military outposts there to improve security in the area.

On arrival at Oloma, ward 10, comprising Burukiri, Orupiri, Epelema, Arugbana-Ama, Georgekiri, among others, the APC candidate paid a brief courtesy call on the Amadabo of Oloma, Pa Patrick Jack Wilson Pepple, where he, alongside the APC House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates, Fubara Hart and Dabota Jumbo, respectively, were introduced to the latter by the APC ward 10 chairman, Billy Dienye. Tonye Cole later prayed for the traditional head before leaving for the venue of the consultative visit.

The people through their APC leader, Fubara Hart asked for electricity, internal roads, industrialization, potable water, jetty at Minima, Agbalama, and Burukiri communities.  

At Peterside, ward 11, speaking through the APC leader there, Adonye Dappa-Wilcox, a former Chairman of Bonny LGA, regretted that Peterside, which was home to famous nationalist, late Chief Harold Dappa Biriye,  Nigeria’s first indigenous Chief of Air Staff, Brigadier General George Kurubo, and business mogul and owner of Silver Value, Port Harcourt, Rogers Jim-Halliday, was being washed away due to sustained erosion of its shoreline along the Bonny River.

Wilcox, on behalf of his kinsmen and women, asked for shore protection to save the ancient and famous community.   

At Kalaibiama, ward 12, the people through their APC leader, Clinton Tolofari, a former Chairman of Bonny LGA, asked for canalization of their creeks, shore protection, a functional health centre, and a link road between Kalaibiama and Kuruama.

In summation of the visit, leader of the APC in Bonny LGA, George Tolofari, a former two term member of the Rivers State House of Assembly and Commissioner for Transport, appreciated the party’s candidate for his decision to harness the needs of the people in articulating his policy thrust, noting that such would ensure the people remain the focal point of his administration when he becomes governor come 2019.

Tonye Cole thanked all the leaders and members of all the communities he had visited, noting that Bonny LGA was the first community where he had to sleep over. In his characteristic manner, the APC candidate, who is also a pastor, prayed for Kalaibiama for eternal and generational blessings, using the community as a contact point for all the communities in Bonny LGA.