The Rivers State Governorship Election suit Tribunal has dismissed Mr Tonye Cole’s (APC) suit challenging the election of Siminalayi Fubara of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as governor of the oil-rich state.
The tribunal dismissed the suit, stating that the APC, which had supported Cole, had withdrawn its challenge to Governor Fubara’s victory.
The tribunal in Abuja had previously dismissed the cases submitted by the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Rivers State, Beatrice Itubo, and Innocent Ekwu and the Allied People’s Movement (APM) against the governor’s election as lacking substance.
It held that Ekwu lacked the locus standi to institute the petition as he didn’t contest the Rivers state Governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had PDP’s Fubara as the winner of the March 18 governorship election.
Fubara polled 302,614 votes to defeat his closet rival Tonye Cole of the APC who scored 95,274 votes while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Senator Magnus Abe, and Itubo came a distant third and fourth with 46,981 and 22,224 votes respectively.
Not satisfied with the declaration of Fubara as the winner of the election, the LP APC and Ekwu filed petitions before the tribunal challenging the result.