In a recent development, the Lagos State Appeal Court has rejected the petition lodged by Patrick Tonye-Cole, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State.
This legal action was directed against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The dismissal also extended to the petition filed by the Accord Party. Present in the courtroom, Tonye-Cole sought the court’s intervention to compel INEC to declare him the winner of the March governorship election in Rivers.
This legal dispute traces back to the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which, in October, had already dismissed Cole’s petition contesting Fubara’s election as the state’s governor. The tribunal cited the withdrawal of the petition by the APC, Cole’s sponsoring party, as a basis for dismissal.
Undeterred, Tonye-Cole took the case to the appellate court, aiming to overturn the Tribunal’s decision. Regrettably for him, the appellate court, on Tuesday, upheld the Tribunal’s ruling, affirming Fubara’s electoral victory in October.
