Rivers: Eze Faults Tribunal Judgement, Says Pursuit of Justice Continues

• Describes National APC Withdrawal From Tribunal As Wicked*

Former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress chieftain, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has urged progressives in Rivers State to remain calm in the aftermath of the Tribunal’s decision on Monday, October 2, to dismiss the petition of the party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 elections, Pst. Tonye Cole, on flimsy and unsound reasoning.

In a statement made available to the media on Wednesday, the APC chieftain said that while the judgment was a momentary setback to Rivers people’s dreams for a better Rivers State, he vowed that the quest for justice would continue notwithstanding.

Recall that the Rivers State Governorship Election plea Tribunal, meeting in Abuja on Monday, dismissed Tonye Cole’s plea on the sole basis that the party, the National All Progressives Congress, withdrew from the matter.

In his dissent, Eze cited Section 133 of the Electoral Act of 2022, which states in subsection 1: (1) An election petition may be brought by one or more of the following persons: a candidate in an election; or a political party that participated in the election.

As a result, only the candidate or party in an election can file a lawsuit to contest the conduct or outcome of an election.

It is settled that candidate in an election and the party that sponsors him cannot be one and the same person for the purpose of an election petition. The law gives them independent recognition and rights they can file the petition together in their individual capacities and the law does not make them one and the same for this purpose.

He said the withdrawal ought to have been discarded and the matter decided on merit and not to be used as a point to dismiss a case as strong as Tonye’s.

Eze hinted that the withdrawal was part of the Tinubu/Wike deal and noted that it is a bad precedent for Tinubu to sell out his own party just to please a fellow whose political antecedents render him unfit for any role in our body polity and tumultuous democratic journey.

He assured that the party will not give up until the state is rescued from those who have held her hostage and stagnated her advancement in the last eight years.