Hold politicians accountable, APC guber candidate tells journalists

Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has charged the Nigerian media to make politicians to be accountable to the citizens.

This is as the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Rivers State, called for a violent-free atmosphere before during and after the forthcoming general elections in the state.

Cole spoke on Friday night during a dinner organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel, as part of activities marking the 2023 Correspondents’ Week, with the theme: “Media Vigilance Ahead of Peaceful 2023 Election In Rivers State”.

The dinner, which was chaired by the Head, Corporate Communications, Indorama-Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, Dr. Jossy Nkwocha, was attended by the General Manager of Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (RSNC), Chief Ernest Chinwo and several other journalists and non-journalists.

He was represented at the event by the spokesman of the party’s campaign council in the state, Sogbeye Eli, regretting that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was doing everything possible to stifle the voice of the opposition in the State.

He said: “The constitution says there should be a multiparty democracy. In other words, we are not running a one-party system. But here, some politicians say Rivers state is a one-party state and they are doing everything possible to stifle the voice of the opposition. That is not correct.

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“I am challenging the media to hold politicians accountable. I wouldn’t stand here and say PDP does it and that we, APC doesn’t do it. I said so because we are in an era where politicians are moving from party A to party B easily. I think the media has a role in defining borders for political parties.

“Politicians should be held accountable. You don’t say A now and next time you say B. No! You must be held to account for the thing you do and say. With that we can have a system that looks like you are being held accountable by the people.”