In a decisive ruling on Tuesday, the Appeal Court sitting in Lagos State dismissed the petition filed by Patrick Tonye-Cole, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State. The petition was against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The appellate court also rejected the petition of the Accord Party in the same matter.
Present in the courtroom, Tonye-Cole sought the court’s intervention to direct INEC to declare him the winner of the March governorship election in Rivers. However, the court, in alignment with the earlier decision of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in October, dismissed the APC candidate’s plea.
The Tribunal had previously dismissed Cole’s petition, citing the withdrawal of the petition by the APC, the party sponsoring him, against Fubara’s electoral victory. Dissatisfied with the Tribunal’s decision, Tonye-Cole proceeded to the Appeal Court, which, on Tuesday, affirmed the Tribunal’s ruling and upheld Fubara’s victory in the governorship election.
