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Tag: Tonye Cole

  • **”Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal Reserves Judgment in Tonye Cole’s Petition”**

    **”Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal Reserves Judgment in Tonye Cole’s Petition”**

    The Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal, seated in Abuja, has deferred its judgment in the petition submitted by Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the March 18 governorship election in Rivers State. Cole is challenging the victory of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Cletus Emifonye, postponed the matter for judgment after both sides presented their final written addresses and argued their positions regarding the petition.

    According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Fubara secured 302,614 votes to win the election, while Mr. Cole received 95,274 votes, and Beatrice Itubo of the Labour Party (LP) garnered 22,224 votes, securing the third position.

    In the aftermath of the tribunal’s sitting on Wednesday, Tuduru Ede, SAN, Mr. Cole’s lead counsel, disclosed that approximately 40 witnesses were called, and nearly 1,000 exhibits were presented. Ede highlighted their primary argument, which revolved around the contention that Fubara, as of the election date, was not qualified to run for office as he had not resigned from his positions as accountant-general and permanent secretary in Rivers State. He expressed their anticipation of the tribunal’s judgment.

    Tonye Cole, present at the tribunal, expressed his trust in both the tribunal and divine justice, stating his determination to reclaim the “stolen mandate.” He urged the people of Rivers State to remain patient and assured them that they would exhaust all avenues to seek justice.

    Nyesom Wike, Fubara’s predecessor and the current Minister of Federal Capital Territory, was also in attendance but declined to comment, directing reporters to speak with lawyers involved in the case.

    Efforts to obtain statements from INEC’s counsel, Kanu Agabi, SAN, and Governor Fubara’s counsel, Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, were unsuccessful, while the PDP’s counsel, Joseph Daudu, was unavailable for comment.

    Notably, Tonye Cole is the petitioner in this case, while INEC, Governor Fubara, and the PDP are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respondents, respectively. The tribunal had previously reserved judgment in the petition filed by the Labour Party’s gubernatorial candidate against Fubara’s victory on September 7.

  • How PDP Thugs Attacked Me, My Team At Rivers INEC Office — Tonye Cole

    How PDP Thugs Attacked Me, My Team At Rivers INEC Office — Tonye Cole

    The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18 governorship election in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of sending thugs to attack him and his team to prevent them from accessing the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt on Monday.

    Cole said he and some leaders of his party were at the INEC office to obtain documents used for the election to file a petition to challenge the declaration of the PDP candidate, Siminialayi Fubara, as the winner of the election but were attacked by thugs allegedly sent by the PDP.

    Speaking with Channels Television in Port Harcourt, Cole said he was assaulted by thugs whom he said pelted him with water, food and stones until he got injured.

    He said, “We are supposed to be in a democracy and one of the tenets of democracy is that after an election, INEC being supposedly an impartial umpire will have documents and these documents are available to everybody who participated in the election. These are critical documents which when we take to an electoral tribunal, we will build our case upon that to the electoral tribunal.

    “On Friday, we were at INEC, and we asked for these documents, but they have not given us a single one. We said we were coming back today (Monday) and because we said we are coming back today, the PDP organised thugs everywhere to prevent us from getting to the INEC office.

    “I wasn’t deterred and so I went with my party chairman, the women leader, the youth leader, and senior officials of the APC to the INEC office.

    “They had barricaded the road from GRA Junction, everywhere boys, girls. They began to assault me, I came out and a woman began to drag my shirt, they pulled me from the back, first, they were throwing water then they began to throw food and the next minute they started throwing stones.

    “The next thing after that, we started hearing gunshots, it took my security people to forcefully evict me. They destroyed our vehicles, they injured me. They slapped me, they punched me, they pulled my shirt, they dragged me and then threw stones at me until I was injured in the back,” Cole narrated.

    He said they left the INEC office and ran to the APC office for safety but that the thugs followed them to the APC office.

    He urged the INEC national headquarters and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba to step in, saying that the Rivers State governorship tribunal cannot hold in the state with the current happenings.

    On the allegation by Cole that he was attacked by PDP members at the INEC Office in Rivers State, the party is yet to grant Channels Television’s request for a reaction.

    The State PDP Chairman, Ambassador Desmond Akawor and the Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Samuel Nwanosike, one of the lead protesters at the INEC office have neither taken the calls to their phones nor responded to the text messages sent to them separately.

    Another lead protester, Edison Ehie who is the Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly could not be reached as his phone is said to be switched off.

    INEC had declared PDP’s Fubara winner of the governorship election with 302,614 votes while Cole polled 95,274 votes. Cole rejected the result and vowed to challenge it at the tribunal.