The PDP candidate, Siminialayi Fubara won the governorship election.

The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Magnus Abe says he is withdrawing his petition against the declaration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Siminialayi Fubara as the winner of 18 March governorship election in the state.

The IndependentNational Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr Fubara as the governor-elect in the state having scored the highest votes in the election.

Mr Abe filed a petition challenging at the tribunal, challenging the outcome of the election.

Addressing members of the party in Port Harcourt on Sunday, Mr Abe said he was withdrawing his petition for the interest of the state.

"The interest of our State has always been and will remain paramount to me. We cannot at any stage of our politics put our own interest above the interest of those who have sacrificed so much to follow us.

"We cannot also put our ego above every other consideration in our State. We must learn as politicians to be pragmatic and put the interest of Rivers State and Rivers people above every other interests.

"More importantly, it is in the interest of our state so that we begin to reduce the bickering and confusion that is in our state, in order to give all of us the opportunity to be able to move forward with our lives.

"I take this decision very conscious of the pain, of the trauma and of the confusion it will bring to all of you".

In a statement on Sunday by the spokesperson for the former senator, Parry Benson, the SDP governorship candidate denied demarketing the state in order to secure an appointment as alleged by the state government.

"We know those who are looking for appointments and we know those who are pushing people aside," Mr Abe said, adding that those who blocked INEC gates in Port Harcourt and arrested lawyers who were preparing briefs for the tribunal in their hotels rooms are the ones demarketing the state.