The Supreme Court, on Monday, reserved judgment on an appeal seeking to sack Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State from office.
The appeal was filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18, 2023 governorship election, Mr. Tonye Cole.
It would be recalled that 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 but, Mr. Cole, vowed to prosecute his petition to its logical conclusion.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, a five-member panel of Justices of the apex court, led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun reserved judgment to a date that would be communicated to parties, though final briefs of argument were adopted.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Fubara of the PDP polled a total of 302,614 votes to defeat his closest rival, Cole of the APC who got a total of 95,274 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Cole approached the tribunal.
The appellant, among other things, alleged that the Rivers State governorship election was marred by corrupt practices and that it was not conducted in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
The APC governorship candidate also alleged that Fubara did not validly resign his previous position held in the state as required by the law, before the election was held.
He alleged that Fubara continued to sign documents as the Accountant-General of Rivers State, even after he was nominated as the candidate of the PDP for the governorship election.
He then, urged the tribunal to nullify the Certificate of Return that was issued to Fubara by INEC and declare that he was not the bonafide winner of the election.
Cole further prayed the tribunal to declare that he was the authentic winner of the gubernatorial contest.
Both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal had, in their judgments, dismissed his case for lacking in merit.
Though the appellate court, in its judgment delivered on November 28, 2023, affirmed the unanimous judgement of the tribunal that dismissed Cole’s case, it, however, faulted the lower court over its position that the petition was invalidated by the withdrawal of APC which has the statutory responsibility of nominating and sponsoring a candidate for the election.
The appellate court held that the fact that APC withdrew from the petition against Fubara’s victory, did not prohibit its candidate, Cole, from pursuing the appeal in his own right.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed a separate appeal that was filed against Fubara by the candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) in the election, Innocent Kere, after it’s withdrawal by their lawyer.
