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Supreme Court Rejects Tonye Cole’s Appeal, Upholds Siminalayi Fubara’s Election Victory
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal lodged by Tonye Cole and the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging the election of Siminalayi Fubara as Rivers State governor, citing lack of merit.
In affirming Fubara’s position as the duly elected governor, the court concluded that the appellant failed to substantiate allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and other claims.
The court deemed the appeal incompetent and consequently dismissed it.
Cole, the APC gubernatorial candidate in the March 18, 2023, election, contested Fubara’s victory under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), arguing that Fubara did not resign as the Accountant General of Rivers State before the election.
Additionally, Cole raised concerns about alleged irregularities, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, and corrupt practices.
Seeking to overturn the judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Tribunal, which upheld Fubara’s victory, Cole’s case stemmed from the Appeal Court’s decision of November 28, 2023, which dismissed his appeal due to insufficient evidence.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos had previously affirmed Fubara’s election as the Rivers State governor, unanimously dismissing appeals filed by Cole, Beatrice Itubo of the Labour Party (LP), Innocent Ekwu of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), and Lulu Briggs Dumo of the Accord Party.
Present in the courtroom during the recent Supreme Court proceedings, Cole aimed for a directive from the court for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him the winner of the March governorship election in Rivers.
However, INEC had already declared Fubara as the winner of the election, with Fubara securing 302,614 votes compared to Cole’s 95,274 votes. Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and LP’s Beatrice Itubo trailed behind with 46,981 and 22,224 votes, respectively.
Despite the earlier dismissal of Cole’s petition by the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in October 2023, and subsequent affirmations by the appellate court, Cole persisted in his legal challenge, which has now been definitively resolved by the Supreme Court.
