Respite For Fubara As Supreme Court Upholds Victory As Rivers Gov.

The Supreme Court has upheld the victory of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, throwing out the appeal filed by Mr. Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC) contesting the outcome of the governorship election held on March 18, 2023.

The unanimous decision was delivered by a five-member panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

In the lead judgment presented by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the apex court found no reason to overturn the concurrent rulings of the Court of Appeal and the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, both upholding Fubara’s electoral win. The court held that Cole failed to demonstrate that the election was not conducted in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

It’s noteworthy that the APC withdrew from the case during the proceedings at the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal. Despite the party’s decision not to contest the declaration of Fubara as the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Cole remained determined to pursue his petition.

INEC had declared Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner with 302,614 votes, surpassing Cole of the APC, who garnered 95,274 votes. Cole contested the outcome, alleging corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

Among his claims, Cole argued that Fubara did not validly resign from his previous position before the election, asserting that Fubara continued to sign documents as the Accountant-General of Rivers State even after being nominated as the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate.

Despite these allegations, both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal dismissed Cole’s case for lack of merit. While the appellate court affirmed the tribunal’s decision, it disagreed with the lower court’s stance that the petition was invalidated by the APC’s withdrawal. The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed a separate appeal against Fubara by the candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Innocent Kere, after the appellants applied to withdraw the case.