THE Supreme Court has affirmed Siminalayi Fubara as the duly elected governor of Rivers State.
In a unanimous decision, the apex court dismissed the appeal of Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Fubara’s election.
In the judgement on Thursday, January 25, the court maintained that Cole did not establish the allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among others.
The court held that his appeal was incompetent and dismissed it for lacking merit.
Cole, the APC candidate for the March 18, 2023 election, contested Fubara’s victory on the grounds that he had not resigned from his position as Rivers State’s Accountant-General before the election.
Cole listed, among others, purported anomalies, disregard for the Electoral Act, and corrupt activities by Fubara.
He requested that the Court of Appeal and Tribunal’s rulings, which affirmed Fubara as governor, be overturned.
Fubara got 302,614 votes to defeat Cole, who scored 95,274 votes in the election.
The Tribunal and Appeal Court rejected Cole’s petitions in separate rulings, saying they lacked merit.
The courts said he failed to produce sufficient proof of his allegations of non-qualification, corrupt behaviour, and non-compliance and upheld Fubara’s victory.
In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court’s five-member panel headed by Ibrahim Saulawa affirmed the Appellate Court’s ruling, citing the APC candidate’s inability to substantiate his claims of excessive voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
A reporter with the ICIR
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