The Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, has quashed the election of governor Nyeson Wike as Rivers state governor through the gubernatorial poll on April 11, 2015, even as Wike insisted that he is still the governor until superior court decides otherwise.
That is even as the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state said that the judgment nullifying the election of Wike has vindicated its persistent claim that the election was a sham and that the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) erred in declaring Wike as governor.
The three-man tribunal chaired by Justice Suleiman Ambursa, today, nullified the declaration of Chief Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as winner of the contentious ballot by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).The tribunal declared that Wike’s election did not comply substantially with electoral guidelines.It ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections within 90 days.
The litigant, Dr. Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had sought the nullification of the ballot on the ground that it was marred by irregularities and fraudulent practices, adding that did not conduct it in line with the electoral laws.
Reacting to the judgment, Counsel to the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), said Wike remains the governor until the appeal processes are exhausted, saying that the nature of the judgment delivered by the Justice Ambrosa-led Tribunal made appeal vital as the new position adopted by the tribunal must be tested in the interest of justice.
Uche noted that the tribunal’s reliance on card reader accreditation to nullify the election when evidence was led by both the respondents and the petitioners that both card reader and manual accreditation were used for the election requires testing at the Court of Appeal.
He noted that it was shocking that less than 24 hours after lawyers on all sides submitted nine written addresses and documents, the Tribunal sent notice that judgment would be delivered on Saturday morning.
Uche informed that the tribunal was aware that the Supreme Court judgment on the jurisdiction of the tribunal outside of Rivers State would be delivered on Tuesday.
He said that the tribunal had seven days to deliver its judgment, but chose to do so in less than two days.
This was even as the APC in the state insisted that it welcomed the judgment, saying: “we have been vindicated in our persistent claim that the election in Rivers State was a sham and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) erred in declaring Wike governor. We repeat that there is no way under the heavens that Chief Wike can beat our candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, in a free and fair election.
In a statement, in Port Harcourt by its Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikany, the APC said: “though, we were expecting total ban of Chief Nyesom Wike from further participation in the politics of Nigeria seeing the orchestration of the number of death of Rivers State people in order for him to be installed as a Care-Taker Governor, all the same we thank the Justice Mohammed Ambrusa-led Tribunal for restoring hope to the downtrodden people of Rivers State who have borne the brunt of Wike’s illegal and visionless administration in the past five months.
“We thank the Tribunal for allowing itself to be used by God to uproot the impostor governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, who has these past five months brought monumental suffering to our people in cahoots with some mischievous and misguided politicians whose only understanding of governance is blackmailing and the looting of our common patrimony.
“For the first time in the history of our dear State, a government without any vision or blueprint assumed office, thereby collapsing all the systems of governance. [myad]
