Hope rises for Tonye Cole as court voids judgment nullifying Rivers APC primaries

The Court of Appeal has overturned a federal high court decision that disqualified all All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in Rivers state.

Tonye Cole, a former executive director of Sahara Group, had won the party’s governorship ticket during the May primary. INEC had recognized him, among others, as the party’s Rivers candidate for the 2023 elections.

A claimant, George Orlu, and four other aspirants had filed a case in the state’s federal high court seeking to have the party’s primaries annulled.

The high court judge, E.A. Obile, ruled in October that the governorship primary was invalid because the plaintiffs were wrongfully barred from participating.

The court ruled that those whose names were submitted as having been elected in the primaries should not be recognized as validly elected APC candidates in the state.

A three-member appellate court panel led by Muhammed Lawal-Shaibu delivered judgment on Thursday, saying the respondents did not exhaust the internal party mechanism before filing the suit.

Shaibu ruled that because the respondents did not attend the APC congress, they lacked the locus standi to sue.

According to the panel, the trial judge erred by refusing to join some APC candidates who were interested parties in the suit.

The panel also stated that the nomination of delegates and political parties was strictly an internal party matter, and that the high court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case in the first place.

The APC, Cole, and assembly candidates’ appeals were found to be meritorious.

As a result, the appellate court reversed the judgment against APC and awarded N500,000 as a cost against the appeal respondents in favour of APC in each of the three cases.

Cole expressed his satisfaction with the development in a post on his social media handles following the appeal court ruling.

Yet another victory! My people, justice has prevailed again! We have had a big victory in the appeal court, upturning the first judgement that nullified the entire primaries & disqualified every APC candidate! Believe it or not, we are moving #FowardWithCourage. God dey our back, and it is very evident! he wrote.