Rivers APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, confident about party’s participation in 2023 election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has expressed optimism that the party would take part in the 2023 election in the state.

Justice Emmanuel Obile of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, had on November 24 disqualified Cole from the governorship race in the state over his dual citizenship status.

The judge added the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not monitor the primary election that produced Cole as APC governorship candidate in the state.

The INEC also disqualified the party from the 2019 governorship election in Rivers State after a court nullified the primaries conducted by factions of the party.

Cole, who addressed journalists at the launch of the “office of the citizen” by #FixPolitics, a civil society organisation (CSO) in Lagos, said the party was ready to appeal the matter at Supreme Court.

READ ALSO: 2023: APC may lose out in Rivers, as court sacks Tonye Cole as guber candidate

Cole said: “It is two different things. In 2019, there was an internal crisis in the APC, which made it very easy for the court to leave us out of the ballot. This time around, it is totally different.

“What I am going to say is that we are going to be on the ballot. Nothing is going to stop us.

“The judgment is from a lower court and we are in the appeal court. All the issues will end up at the Supreme Court. So, we are going to appeal court and to the Supreme Court. At that point, it will all be done and settled.

“We trust the judiciary that they will do the right thing. This is about competition and it is about making sure everyone gets to the ballot so that they can compete with the best that they have.

“What we bring to the table this time around, we have people that are afraid of our competition, so they won’t allow us to be on the ballot. We will be on the ballot, compete, and we will win.”

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