Tonye Cole’s Heartache

Inarguably, Tonye Cole, the co-founder of Sahara Energy, is an accomplished businessman and a leading name in the oil and gas sector in the country.  He ranks among those few who know their onions in the industry.

His incursion into the industry has been a blessing, as the Sahara Energy he founded with some of his friends has contributed immensely to the growth of Nigeria’s oil sector. But beyond that, he also has other businesses scattered within and outside the country and he dazzles with beautiful ideas always.

Despite these accomplishments, he has yet to fulfil his age-long ambition to secure the number one job in the state. Since 2018, he has continued to aspire for the plum job of Rivers State without success and this, Society Watch gathered, has been a thorny problem that is accompanied by serious heartache for him.

You will recall that the Kalabari-born top oil player had resigned his appointment in 2018 to pursue his aspiration for the number one job of Rivers State as the anointed candidate of a former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.

He has since been working hard to realise this dream, but his paths have been laced with more thorns than roses.

Though he got the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC after so much battle that would have swallowed him, he could not participate in the governorship election, as the Supreme Court nailed the coffin on his ambition.

The court had ruled that the name of the party should be expunged from the March 2, 2019 governorship election.

Also, in the last governorship in the state, he was unable to achieve the ambition as he couldn’t surmount his most difficult obstacles. The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Sim Fubara, was declared the winner of the election.

Though Cole is presently at the election petition tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election, the chances for a favourable outcome are slim as perceived by a few.