Rivers 2019.
Tonye Cole and Gov Nyesom Wike set to battle for Bricks house after winning primaries.
Gov Nyesom Wike of Rivers secured a second term ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday. He faces billionaire Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress in the electoral battle for the state’s government house.
Both candidates emerged from the primaries of their parties.
The Chairman of the Electoral Panel and the Returning Officer of the PDP primary elections, Mr Chukwuma Chinwe, said 3,490 voters were accredited for the primary.
He noted that of the 3,490 total votes, 3,345 voted in favour of Wike as the candidate for the PDP Governorship elections in 2019 , with nine voided votes.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) delegates for the Rivers governorship primary election have elected Mr Tonye Cole, a Lagos based billionaire as the 2019 governorship candidate of the party.
Col. Lawal Isa (Rtd.), Chairman, APC Governorship Primary Election Committee for Rivers, announced that Cole, an oil mogul, secured 3,329 votes to defeat other aspirants.
Isa commended the delegates for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves during the voting at the Igboukwu Field in Port Harcourt on Saturday.
He stated that Dr. Dawari George secured 491 votes, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs secured 38 votes and Senator Magnus Abe one vote.
He said that a total of 18 votes were declared invalid.
NAN reports that the APC National Secretariat approved indirect mode of Primary Election in Rivers.
Sen Abe and Chief Lulu-Briggs were absent during the election. No agent represented the duo.
However, Abe organised a parallel primary, which returned him as the governorship candidate.
The result was announced by Dr Sam Eligwe, the Returning Officer for the faction at the secretariat controlled by the faction in Port Harcourt.
According to Eligwe, Abe won with 144,929 votes..
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, who polled 3,444 votes, came a distant second while Dr Dawari George scored 1606 and Dr Tonye Cole got 882 votes in the results announced.
