Rivers: Appeal Court Reinstates Cole As APC Candidate

Tonye Cole, the APC governorship candidate in Rivers state has been reinstated by the Court of Appeal.

The court judgment delivered on Thursday nullified the ruling of the federal high court which disqualified all the candidates of the party in the state.

Cole, a former executive director of Sahara Group, had won the party’s governorship ticket during the primary in May and had received the approval of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to contest the 2023 governorship election.

But one of the governorship aspirants, George Orlu, and four others later filed a case before a federal high court in the state seeking a nullification of the party’s primaries claiming they were wrongly excluded from the primary.

In a judgment delivered in October, Justice E.A. Obile of the high court, agreed with the plaintiffs that they were wrongly excluded, and went ahead to nullify the exercise.

The judge ruled that those whose names have been submitted as having been elected from the primaries should not be recognised as validly-elected candidates of the APC in the state.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Muhammed Lawal-Shaibu said the respondents did not exhaust the internal party mechanism before instituting the suit.

Shaibu held that the respondents failed to participate in the congress of the APC and therefore lacked the locus standi to go to court.

The panel said the trial judge erred by refusing to join some candidates of APC who were interested parties in the suit.

The panel also said the nomination of delegates and political parties was purely internal party affairs, and that the high court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place.

The appeals by the APC, Cole, and assembly candidates were found meritorious.

Consequently, the appellate court set aside the judgment against APC and awarded the sum of N500,000 each for the three cases as cost against the appeal respondents, in favour of APC.

Meanwhile, there was jubilation in the camp of Rotimi Amaechi, a former Minister of Transportation following the judgment on Thursday.

Sources close to him told the magazine that yesterday’s ruling is a respite for the former minister who is currently facing the battle of relevance in his party.

Ameachi is Cole’s political leader and sponsor.