Rivers APC Guber Candidate Appeals Annulment of Primaries

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has urged his supporters to remain calm following the annulment of the party’s primaries by a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.

Justice E.A. Obile had last Tuesday nullified the primaries of the state APC in a matter filed by one George Orlu and four others-aggrieved members of the party.

The aggrieved members in the suit, who claimed to have purchased nomination forms, had approached the court requesting that the primaries of APC in state be nullified following their alleged exclusion in the process.

Justice Obile in his ruling held that the aggrieved persons were shut out of the primaries unlawfully, adding that the process amounted to nullity.

Obila further agreed in the judgment with the plaintiffs that they were wrongly excluded in the process to participate in the party primaries, and therefore, ruled that all those elected from the primaries stand nullified and should not be recognized as candidates.

Meanwhile, the party’s governorship candidate, Cole, has told his supporters to remain calm, assuring them that APC will remain on the ballot sheet during the 2023 elections in the state.

In a statement made available to THISDAY, it was revealed that the candidate has appealed the judgment.

According to the statement, “Tonye Patrick Cole, the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, has appealed ruling nullifying the APC primaries conducted in Rivers State by the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“On October 25, 2022, the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt in its decision, ruled in favour of the claimant, George Orlu, and four other persons who claimed to have been unlawfully excluded from participating in the APC governorship primary election. This led to the nullification of the APC primaries, disqualifying Tonye Cole and Innocent Barikor as candidates in the 2023 gubernatorial elections of Rivers State.”

However, Cole, who expressed his unwavering regard for the judicial process, appealed the ruling to cancel the APC primaries in Rivers State.

He cited the claimant’s request to nullify the election as “self-serving and cowardly on the basis that none of them were registered members of the party when they filed the case in court.”