The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress APC, announced the withdrawal of its petition against the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the March 18, 2023 Governorship Election.
But in a swift reaction, the Spokesman of the APC in Rivers state, Darlington Nwauju declared that Pastor Tonye Cole the Governorship flagbearer of the party in the election, has not withdrawn his case.
With the withdrawal of the APC, Cole remains the only petitioner against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Fubara Siminalayi.
Cole is challenging the victory of Siminalayi in the March governorship poll in the state.
The process of the withdrawal, Nigerian Tribune learnt, was set in motion at the tribunal as the APC filed an application for change of counsel in their petition against the PDP and its candidate.
When the matter commenced, counsel for the APC, Solomon Umoh told the tribunal that he would be taking over as counsel for the party following a motion for change of counsel before the tribunal.
He also informed the court that his clients would like their names to be struck out from the petition as applicants.
In his position, Jibrin Okutepa, who was the former counsel for Cole and the APC, told the tribunal that he was not briefed on the new development by the party.
However, in their decision on the application, the three-man panel led by Justice Cletus Emifoniye, granted the application for change of counsel and also granted the motion as prayed by striking out the name of APC as a petitioner.
The APC’s withdrawal was brought pursuant to order 9 rule 15 of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019.
One of the grounds for the application amongst others is that “there is the need to seek the leave of this Honourable Tribunal to strike out the name of the 2nd petitioner/applicant, as the applicant has no intention to participate in this petition.”
When contacted for his reaction, Sogbeye Eli, Spokesman of Tonye Cole told our Correspondent in Rivers State that he was not aware of the withdrawal from the case by the APC.
But on his part, Darlington Nwauju, Publicity Secretary of the Rivers APC stated that Pastor Tonye Cole, the Governorship candidate in the election has not withdran his petition.
He said; “Rivers APC complained against the lawyer nominated by the National Legal Adviser, Barrister Ahmed El-Mazurk, to handle our brief, particularly that the said lawyer has links to the Rivers State Government and Rivers PDP. So, the response to that complaint is what happened today and for us, it’s good riddance”.
No date has been fixed for the commencement of the pre-hearing of applications before the Tribunal
