The Supreme Court has affirmed Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s election in Rivers State.
On Thursday, a five-member panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun unanimously dismissed an appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC, candidate, Mr. Tonye Cole, to challenge the outcome of the state’s governorship election held on March 18, 2023, as lacking in merit.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the Supreme Court stated that it saw no reason to overturn the concurrent findings of the Court of Appeal and the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed Fubara’s election victory.
The court determined that Cole did not prove that the election was not conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act of 2022.
It should be noted that the APC withdrew from the petition against Governor Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while it was being heard by the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Despite the party’s decision not to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) announcement of Fubara as the victor of the gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Cole vowed to pursue his petition to its completion.
INEC named Fubara of the PDP the winner with 302,614 votes, defeating his closest rival, Cole of the APC, who received 95,274 votes.
Cole, dissatisfied with the poll’s results, contacted the tribunal to contest them.
The appellant asserted, among other things, that the Rivers State governorship election was tainted by corrupt activities and that it was not conducted in significant accordance with the terms of the Electoral Act 2022.
Furthermore, Cole said that Fubara did not resign from his former post in accordance with the law before the election.
He claimed Fubara continued to sign paperwork as Rivers State’s Accountant-General even after being nominated as the PDP’s governorship candidate.
As a result, he urged the tribunal to reject Fubara’s Certificate of Return and proclaim him not the legitimate winner of the election.
Cole also asked the panel to proclaim him the legitimate victor of the gubernatorial campaign.
However, both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal dismissed his petition for lack of merit.
Though the appellate court affirmed the tribunal’s unanimous decision to dismiss Cole’s case on November 28, 2023, it faulted the lower court for its position that the petition was invalidated by the withdrawal of APC, which has the statutory responsibility of nominating and sponsoring a candidate for the election.
The appellate court ruled that the fact that the APC withdrew from the case challenging Fubara’s victory did not preclude its candidate, Cole, from pursuing the appeal on his own behalf.
The Supreme Court already denied a separate appeal filed against Fubara by Innocent Kere, the Allied People’s Movement (APM) candidate in the election.
The appeal was dismissed after the appellant’s lawyer asked to withdraw the case.
