Updated: 2023: Court disqualifies Rivers APC gov candidate Tonye Cole

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday disqualified the state’s All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Tonye Cole.

He was disqualified on the grounds of dual citizenship and not being properly nominated by the APC.

Cole is both a citizen of the United Kingdom and Nigeria.

The state’s PDP has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to disqualify Cole of the APC, claiming that the delegates that voted at the primary election that brought in the candidate were not democratically elected.

But the APC raised a preliminary objection on the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.

The judge agreed with the PDP that Tonye Cole is not eligible to contest governorship position.

He therefore directed INEC to delist his name from the list of eligible candidates for the 2023 governorship election.