On Wednesday, the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, reserved judgment on the petition brought by Mr Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the Rivers governorship election on March 18.
Cole is contesting the victory of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
After the parties adopted their final written addresses and stated their arguments for and against the petition, the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Cletus Emifonye, adjourned the matter for judgment.
Fubara received 302,614 votes to win the election, while the APC candidate received 95,274 votes and Beatrice Itubo of the Labour Party (LP) received 22,224 votes to finish third.
Chief Tuduru Ede, SAN, the lead lawyer for Cole, told reporters shortly after the sitting on Wednesday that over 40 witnesses were summoned and exhibits totaling thousands of dollars were tendered in the course of the case.
“The main plank of our case is that the 2nd respondent (Fubara), as at the time of the election, was not qualified to run.
“He didn’t resign from his post as Accountant-General and Permanent Secretary in Rivers State.
“We brought evidence to that effect, and we await the judgement of the tribunal,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Cole, who was at the tribunal, said he was trusting the tribunal and God that justice would be done in his petition.
“First of all, I am extremely grateful to the team of lawyers that stood their ground, refused to be intimidated, and put very accurate facts forward.
“I am very satisfied with what has been presented today as our final address.
“And I am trusting the tribunal and trusting my Lord, God Almighty, that justice will be done,” he said.
He said he was in the tribunal to ensure that he took back the mandate that was stolen from him.
“We know exactly what happened on election day, but that is very different from what we are doing in court.
“What we are here to do in court is to ensure that we secure the mandate that was taken off us in March, and I just want to assure everybody in Rivers that we will do everything within our power to ensure that justice is done.
“We have presented the case, and we are just waiting for the result. The judgement is just a few weeks away. So let’s be patient and stand firm. We are fighting this all the way to the end,” he said.
Mr Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who was also present at the hearing, refused to talk to reporters.
He merely stated, “Go and speak to them (the lawyers).”
Attempts to communicate with respondents’ counsel, Mr Kanu Agabi, SAN (INEC), and Mr Emmanuel Ukala, SAN (Fubara), were fruitless because they declined to speak, while Mr Joseph Daudu (PDP) could not be reached.
According to NAN, although Tonye Cole is the petitioner, INEC, Fubara, and the PDP are the first through third respondents in the lawsuit.
On September 7, the tribunal also reserved judgment in the petition brought by the Labour Party’s governorship candidate against Fubara’s victory.