By Ken Afor
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday upheld the election victory of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, dashing the hope of his closest rival, Mr Tonye Cole, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC).
In a five-member panel headed by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the court dismissed the appeal filed by Mr. Tonye Cole, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), challenging the outcome of the March 18 governorship election.
According to the judgment, the apex court found no sufficient reason to overturn the verdicts of the lower courts, which affirmed Fubara’s victory.
The court added that Cole failed to establish that the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
It would be recalled that the APC discontinued the case against Governor Fubara while it was being heard by the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Despite the APC making it clear that it would not challenge Fubara’s victory, Mr. Cole insisted on continuing with his petition to its logical conclusion.
TheNewDiplomat recalls that Governor Fubara was declared the winner of the election after securing 302,614 votes, defeating Mr. Cole, who received a total of 95,274 votes.
Dissatisfied, Cole headed to tribunal to challenge the result. He alleged that the March 18 election was marred by corrupt practices, insisting that it was not conducted in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
He added that Fubara erred by not validly resigning from his previous position as the Accountant-General of Rivers State, as required by the law, before the election was held.
He further alleged that Fubara was still performing official duties, signing documents as the Accountant-General of the state, following his nomination as the candidate of the PDP for the election.
He urged the tribunal to nullify the Certificate of Return issued to Fubara by the INEC and declare that the governor was not duly elected.
He further requested that the tribunal declare himself the winner of the election.
However, his case was dismissed by the tribunal and the Court of Appeal for lack of merit.
