From Victor Edozie (Port Harcourt) & Peter Moses (Abeokuta) & Ahmad Muhammad (Bauchi)
The governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, said he has withdrawn his petition against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the governorship election petition tribunal.
Abe is one of the governorship candidates in Rivers who filed petitions at the tribunal challenging the outcome of the March 18 governorship election in the state where candidate of the PDP, Sim Fubara, was declared winner.
The SDP candidate who disclosed this to his supporters in Port Harcourt at the weekend said he decided to withdraw the petition after wide consultations with party leaders and supporters at state and national levels.
He said his decision to withdraw the petition is in the best interest of the state, stressing that the decision would help the state to move forward.
He said, “We cannot at this stage put our interest above the interest of the state but we will always put the interest of the state above our personal interest.
Similarly, the NNPP in Ogun State has withdrawn its petition filed before the governorship election petition tribunal challenging the victory of Governor Dapo Abiodun of the APC.
In the petition, the party sought for the total cancellation of the election.
But addressing newsmen in Abeokuta yesterday, the state chairman of the NNPP, Oginni Olaposi, disclosed that the party had filed a notice of discountenance of the petition before the tribunal.
Meanwhile the candidate of the APC in the March 18 governorship election in Bauchi State, and former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, has filed a petition at the tribunal challenging the outcome of the poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Bala Mohammed, as winner of the poll, but Sadique is challenging Bala’s victory at the tribunal.
Others who filed separate petitions against Governor Bala are: Senator Halliru Dauda Jika of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Barrister Umar Faruq Gwadabe of Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
The petitioners alleged that elections were marred by irregularities, and that INEC officials did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
The tribunal had pasted the petitions filed by the candidates as the tribunal chairman, Justice Flora Ngozie Azinge, ordered the petitioners to serve the respondents through substituted means.
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