Tina Amanda
Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed an appeal filed by one of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Bennard Mikko, against the governorship candidate of APC, Patrick Tonye-Cole, the Independent National Electoral Commission and others.
The three-person panel of the appeal led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh in a unanimous judgment held that the appellant did not exhaust the internal dispute resolution mechanism as enshrined in both the APC constitution and guidelines before instituting the legal action.
The Judgment delivered by the lead Judge, Joseph Ikyegh, held that Mikko, who voluntarily swore not to challenge the outcome of the party primary election but would be bound by the outcome, did not stand by his undertaking, describing the suit at the lower Court as incompetent and premature.
The Court held further that the Federal High Court was, therefore, on firm ground when it struck out the case insisting the grounds the appellant relied upon at the trial court were criminal, which standard of proof is beyond a reasonable point.
Our correspondent reports that the three-person panel of the appeal also dismissed the cross-appeal by the fourth respondent, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, one of the aspirants who sought to rely on the disqualification of Patrick Tonye-Cole.
In an interview with our correspondent Counsels to APC, Chimenem Jerome said the Judgment of the appeal court found nothing against the governorship candidate of the APC, Tonye-Cole, in the March 25 Governorship election, as the suit failed at the trial court and also has been dismissed at the Appeal court.
