A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has disqualified the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the State, Tonye Cole, over dual citizenship.
Cole is said to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
The Court in its judgment on Thursday ruled that the APC did not comply with the Electoral Act that brought in Cole as the candidate of the party.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State had approached the court, to direct the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to recognize Tonye Cole, as the governorship candidate of APC for alleged dual citizenship and that the delegate election that brought him did not follow due process having not been monitored by INEC.
Justice Emmanuel Obile, in his judgment agreed with the PDP that Tonye Cole is not eligible to contest governorship position.
Obile also directed INEC to remove the name of Tonye Cole from the list of eligible candidates for the 2023 Governorship election.
The Counsel to the PDP, Dike Udenna, while speaking with newsmen, expressed happiness over the judgment which he said means that APC has no governorship candidate for the 2023 General election.
The Counsel to the APC, Collins Dike, on his part said the APC will challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
Dike said the constitution of Nigeria allows Cole to contest the Governorship election having been born in Nigeria.
The lawyer said Tonye Cole “voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the United Kingdom” which does not prevent him from taking part in the election.