The governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Rivers State has struck out the petition filed by the APC against the PDP in the state Drama ensued at the tribunal as Solomon Umoh said he would be replacing the APC and Tonye Cole counsel in the suit against the PDP and INEC Umoh subsequently withdraw the suit against the PDP, leaving Cole as the only petitioner against the PDP and its candidate, Fubara, Sininalayi.

According to Channels Television, the withdrawal means that Tonye Cole, the APC governorship candidate remained the only petitioner against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its candidate and winner of the election, Fubara Siminalayi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Why APC withdraws its suit against PDP in Rivers state Cole was in court to challenge the outcome of the March 18 governorship election that produced Siminalayi as the governor-elect.

The drama started at the tribunal when the APC filed an application for a change of counsel in their petition against Siminalayi and the PDP.

At the beginning of the hearing, the APC counsel, Solomon Umoh, informed the tribunal that he would be taking over as counsel for the APC after a motion for a change of counsel before the court. Latest about APC, PDP, Fubara Siminalayi, Tonye Cole, Rivers Stare Umoh also informed the court that his clients would want their names to be struck out as applicants from the petition.

The former counsel for the APC and Cole, Jibrin Okutepa, said that he was not briefed about the new development by the party. Justice Cletus Emifoniye, in a 3-man panel of judgment, granted the application for change of counsel and granted the prayer of the lawyer by striking out the name of the APC as a petition. The withdrawal of the APC was brought in pursuant to order 9 rule 15 of the federal high civil procedure rules 2019.(Legit.ng)