The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the judgment of the Rivers Election Petitions Tribunal that dismissed the petitions of its governorship candidate, Pastor (Arch) Tonye Cole, and all its Senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the party, in a statement on Thursday, described the judgment as a mockery of the judiciary and a disservice to the memories of hundreds of its members lost to political violence in the state.
The APC said the tribunal allowed itself to be ambushed by purely political innuendos rather than speaking to the law, which is clear that a candidate in an election and the political party that sponsored him are two distinct personalities with independent rights.
The party also said the tribunal’s ruling confirmed its fears of not getting justice in the face of iron-cast evidence presented by its team of lawyers, including the fact that the PDP governorship candidate was still a serving Accountant General of Rivers State at the time he became his party’s candidate.
The APC said it will appeal the judgment and will not challenge and dismantle the hypothetical rulings against its candidates as this would amount to a disservice to the memories of hundreds of its members lost to political violence in the state.
The party also clarified that at no time did the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party under H.E Abdullahi Adamu meet to discuss or ratify the withdrawal of its petitions from the Election Petitions Tribunal, as neither the State Chapter nor its candidates were ever consulted on the matter.
It said the judgement delivered on Monday, 2nd October 2023, “amounts to a mockery of the judiciary as a lower court disdainfully trashed the position of the highest court in the land as it is common knowledge that whatever the position of the Supreme Court is on a matter, becomes law”.
“We make haste to say that the three-man panel headed by Justice Cletus Emifonye allowed itself to be ambushed by purely political innuendos rather than speaking to the law which is abundantly clear as enumerated in the paragraph above,” the Rivers APC stated.
It added, “We consider the reason for arriving at the decision to dismiss the petition of our Governorship candidate, as hypothetical and inconsistent with the position of the Supreme Court which had on the 14th of November 2003 in the case of Buhari & 2 Others Vs Obasanjo & 2 Others (Suit No. SC/194/2003 (Buhari Vs Obasanjo), held that a Candidate in an election cannot be one and the same person with the political party that sponsored him and that the law gives them independent and distinct personality and rights. And that they can file election petitions together in their individual capacities; the law does not make them one and the same for the purposes of the petition.
“This is even made clearer by the construction of Section 133 subsection 1 of the amended Electoral Act (2022) where the Act unambiguously mentions those qualified to institute/file an election petition.
“The 2nd of October ruling confirmed the fears of Rivers APC about getting justice in the face of iron cast evidence presented by our team of lawyers at the Tribunal which includes the fact that the PDP Governorship candidate was as at the time he became candidate of his political party, still a serving Accountant General of Rivers State.
“It goes without saying that the preponderance of arguments and evidence our legal team marshalled out in the other petitions involving our National Assembly and House of Assembly candidates were equally dismissed by brother judges who presided over the other Tribunals hearing our cases.
“We roundly condemn the series of “copy and paste” rulings aimed at weakening the base of our party in Rivers State and call on the judiciary in the country not to jeopardize the democratic process by delivering rulings that have no foundation in law”.
