The Appellate Court made this known while dismissing the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Patrick Tonye-Cole, against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State on Tuesday affirmed the election of Siminalayi Fubara as the Rivers State Governor.
The Appellate Court made this known while dismissing the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Patrick Tonye-Cole, against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The APC candidate had urged that the court to compel INEC to declare him the winner of the March governorship election in Rivers.
Following the declaration of Fubara as the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the LP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as their candidates filed a petition before the tribunal to challenge the election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the poll.
Simnalayi Fubara secured the governorship win with 302,614 votes to defeat Tonye Cole of the APC, who secured 95,274 votes.
Recall that Cole’s case contesting Fubara’s election as the Governor was initially dismissed by the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in October.
Also, a petition filed by Beatrice Itubo, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Rivers State to challenge the victory of Governor Simnalayi Fubara was equally dismissed by the Tribunal.
However, not satisfied with the Tribunal’s judgment, the APC candidate approached the appellate court.
However, the court on Tuesday upheld the Tribunal ruling which affirmed Fubara’s victory in October.