The Supreme Court, Thursday, upheld the election of Governor Siminalayi Fubara as the authentic governor of Rivers State.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Tonye Cole, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that held in the state on March 18, 2023.
The Apex court five-member panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
The court said it found no reason to disagree with the concurrent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which upheld Fubara’s victory at the poll.
It further established that the appellant failed convince the court that the election was not conducted in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The APC pulled out from the case against governor Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while it was being heard by the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Despite the position of the party not to challenge the declaration of Fubara as winner of the gubernatorial contest by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mr. Cole, vowed to prosecute his petition to its logical conclusion.
INEC had declared that Fubara of the PDP polled a total of 302,614 votes to defeat his closets rival, Cole of the APC who got a total of 95,274 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, Cole approached the tribunal to challenge it.
The appellant, among other things, alleged that the Rivers State governorship poll was marred by corrupt practices, insisting that it was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
