The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State on Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress, APC, against Siminilayi Fubara, (PDP)Governor of Rivers State
Cole had approached the Appeal Court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to declare him the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state .
He told the court that Fubara did not resign his appointment as Accountant General of the state claiming that he was still signing documents in that stead even after his nomination as the governorship candidate of the PDP.
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC had declared Fubara winner of the election after he scored 302,614 votes to defeat Cole who polled a 95,274 votes to place distant second
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election,Cole took his matter to the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal
The Tribunal in October dismissed the petition on the grounds that Cole’s party,the APC had withdrawn the petition against Fubara’s victory.
Again , displeased with the Tribunal judgement,Cole appealed the decision at the Court of Appeal which validated the election of Fubara.
Although, there is still a window of appeal for the APC candidate to ventilate his frustration and dissatisfaction of the Judgements,recent events in the APC that sponsored him indicate that he is unlikely to get the support of his party.
The APC is said to be in fragments with the dissolution of its Excos and a Caretaker Committee put together by the Abdullahi Ganduje- led National Working Committee NWC to oversee its affairs in the state.
