From Godwin Tsa, Abuja and Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has dismissed the four petitions against election of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared PDP’s Fubara as winner of the gubernatorial election, having polled 302,614 votes ahead of other contestants.
Dissatisfied with the results, the four other candidates and their political parties challenged the declaration of Fubra at the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal seeking the nullification of his victory.
In a unanimous judgment, the three-man panel dismissed all four petitions and affirmed the election of Fubara as governor of Rivers state.
Specifically, the Justice Cletus Emifonye-led three-member separately dismissed the petitions by Tonye-Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Beatrice Itubo, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs and his Accord Party (AP) and the governorship candidate of the Alliance Peoples Movement (APM), Innocent Ekwu for lacking in merit, on jurisdictional grounds and for being incompetent.
Ruling on the LP’s petition, the tribunal dismissed the petition for lacking in merit and for failure of the petitioners to prove their allegations.
Similarly, the tribunal dismissed the petition of Lulu-Briggs of the AP that argued that Fubara was not validly elected with a majority of lawful votes cast in the election, and that the election was marred by irregularities.
The tribunal held that Lulu-Briggs’ claim that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of both the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022, was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Lulu-Briggs had urged the court to order INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to Fubara and order a fresh election.
Similarly, the tribunal dismissed the petition filed by Ekwu and APM for lacking in merit.
The Tribunal also awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioner and in favour of the respondents.
It held that Ekwu lacked the locus standi to file the petition because he did not contest the Rivers state governorship election.
The tribunal observed that Whyte Churchil was the candidate that contested the March 18 election under the platform of APM.
In addition, the tribunal threw out the two issues raised by the petitioner bordering on non-qualification and non-compliance with the electoral laws for being incompetent and for lacking in merit.
In his petition that was dismissed, Tonye-Cole of the APC had specifically asked the tribunal to sack Fubara from office because as at the time of the election, he was not qualified to run.
Cole told the tribunal that Fubara did not resign from his post as Accountant-General and Permanent Secretary in Rivers State.
However, in its judgment, the tribunal held that nomination of a candidate is an internal affairs of a political party.
Consequently, the tribunal held that Cole lacked the legal right to challenge the nomination of Fubara at the tribunal.
The tribunal opined that the allegation of Cole was a pre-election matter that ought to have been challenged at the Federal High Court and not at the tribunal.
More so, the allegations of Cole that the election was conducted in substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Constitution, Electoral Act and INEC guidelines were dismissed for lack of substantial evidence.
The Tribunal noted that the APC had withdrawn its petition against Fubara, leaving only Cole to challenge the outcome of the election.
In another judgment, the National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu dismissed a suit seeking to annul the election of Osita Okoh, winner of Enugu East Urban constituency poll.
The tribunal described the suit filed by the PDP and its candidate, Obinna Ogbu, as a pre-election matter and, therefore, not within the jurisdiction of the court to entertain. It also ruled that the petitioners lacked the locus standi to challenge the election.
The petitioners had challenged the election on the grounds that Okoh was not qualified to fly LP’s flag in the March 18 state Assembly election, as he was not a registered party member of the LP.
Reacting to the judgment, Okoh, who thanked God for the victory, also dedicated it to his constituents.
He said: “Today is a remarkable day for us and we thank God for the victory. This judgment is a victory for democracy. It is a testament that there is still hope for democracy and that the judiciary is still the last hope for the common man. I commend the judges
“I also thank my constituents for their unwavering support since we started this journey. This is their victory. It is victory over powerful forces seeking to thwart our dreams for our people.
“I feel re-energised and wish to reassure my constituents that we are not relenting in our quest to bring all our campaign promises to reality,” Okoh said.