Embattled Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his sponsor, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose election was nullified at the weekend by election tribunal in Abuja, head to Court of Appeal today.
Chief Chris Uche, SAN, counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, counsel to Gov. Wike, say they will appeal the judgment of the tribunal.
Addressing journalists after the judgment, Uche, SAN, declared that Gov. Wike remains Governor until the appeal processes are exhausted.
“It was wrong of the tribunal to raise heavy weather on the use of card readers when INEC itself admitted that both card readers and manual can be used where there are challenges”, he stated.
Uche further faulted the judgment on the ground that the parties adopted their brief in less than 48 hours and judgment delivered treating almost all election document tendered by them as irrelevant not having weight or dumped.
Just as the respondents were lamenting over the judgment, the petitioner and the supporters of All Progressives Congress, APC, burst into celebration of the judgment they credited to as “hand of God”. The APC candidate in the election, Dakuku Peterside, said Rivers people are happy because the judgment gave them an opportunity to freely vote for who they want.
He said: “My party (APC) and I are ready to meet the respondents at the appellate court if they desire to test the sound judgment. The world knew that election did take place in Rivers State on April 11, 2015”.
In its judgment that lasted over three hours on Saturday, the Rivers State governorship election petition tribunal nullified the April 11 governorship election in the state which produced Governor Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct a fresh credible election with 90 days.
The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Suleiman Ambrosa, who read the judgment, held that the purported election in Rivers State made mockery of democracy. The tribunal agreed with the petitioner and his witnesses that political thugs over-ran the state during the election.
The tribunal also held that Wike was wrongly declared winner because the election was not in compliance with Electoral Act 2010 which guides conduct of election in the country.
The tribunal further held that the petitioners allegations of intimidation, harassment, snatching of ballot boxes, ballot papers, lack of result sheet , late arrival of election materials, diversion of election materials, ballot stuffing, allocation of figures, non-collation of result, failure to use card readers were all established and proved beyond reasonable doubt by the petitioners.
Justice Ambrosa also held that the petitioner had adduced credible evidence and documents that proved his allegations of irregularities and malpractices beyond reasonable doubt.
source-->Dailytimes.com.ng