By Charles Igbo
In a repeat of the 2019 Governorship election scenario in Rivers State, a Federal High Court which sat in Porthacourt, has disqualified the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Tonye Cole, from participating in the 2023 election.
The Court, on Thursday, November 24, disqualified Cole for being a citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In its judgment, the Honourable Court posited that Mr Cole voluntarily acquired British citizenship, and pledged loyalty and allegiance to the Crown.
The Court, also, disqualified Cole on the grounds that the process through which he was nominated the APC candidate was untidy and failed to follow due process as enshrined in the new Electoral Act.
The suit which disqualified Cole was filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, against the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, APC, and Cole. The suit said that the delegates who voted for Cole at the Primaries were not elected democratically.
In Rivers State, the coast is getting clear for the PDP to win in a landslide.
Earlier, the Labour Party had been disqualified from participating in the General elections except in the Presidency. PDP filed the suit.
Also, 16 Candidates of the APC were recently barred from participating in the House of Assembly Election in a suit filed by the PDP.
For the records, the same Tonye Cole was disqualified from participating in the 2019 Governorship election after he had won at the Primaries.
The APC is likely to appeal the judgement.
