NIGERIA'S COURT OF APPEAL REMOVES NYESOM WIKE AS GOVERNOR OF RIVERS STATE

NYESOM WIKE

A Court of Appeal panel in Abuja, Nigeria has struck out Governor Nyesom Wike’s appeal which sought to dismiss the judgment rendered by the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal which declared his election as governor of the state null and void.

Justice M.B. Dongban-Mensem on behalf of his colleagues read the panel’s 110-page ruling in which the Court held that the election of Governor Wike failed to the test of validity as provided for in the electoral act. In its ruling the Appeal Court considered and decided against Wike in the seven issues raised by Governor Wike against Dakuku Peterside and the All Progressives Congress party. The Court then ordered a rerun of the Rivers State governorship elections in 90 days.

Before this, the State Election Petition Tribunal had also decided against the election of Wike and ordered for a fresh election within 90 days. Governor Wike expressed his dissatisfaction with the Tribunal’s decision and proceeded to the Court of Appeal, requesting for the judgment to be squashed and a declaration made that the election was properly held and he was the duly elected governor.

Wike had also failed in his attempt to get the Supreme Court to declare the proceedings of the Election Tribunal which sat in Abuja and not in Rivers State as null and void. The Supreme Court held that the Tribunal was right to have sat in Abuja in view of the security challenge prevailing in Rivers State at that moment.

The three-man Court of Appeal panel sitting in Abuja has struck out the appeal of Nyesom Wike seeking a dismissal of the judgment of the Rivers election petition tribunal which sacked him as governor of the state. In a 110-page ruling delivered by Justice M.B. Dongban-Mensem, the Court ruled that the election of Nyesom Wike did not conform with the electoral act. The Court has ordered a rerun in 90 days. In delivering a final ruling the Court of Appeal decided all the seven issues raised by Governor Wike against in favour of Dakuku Peterside and the All Progressives Congress party. Recall that on Saturday, October 24, the tribunal had held that Wike was not duly elected governor of Rivers‎ state. It ruled that a fresh election be held in the state within 90 days. But Wike appealed against the judgment, insisting that he was duly elected governor of the state‎. He asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal, arguing that‎ the lower court failed to consider the evidence – that a proper election took place in Rivers state on April 11 – tendered before it. Wike had previously gone to the supreme court to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal, which sacked him. His main argument at the apex court was that the tribunal should have sat in Rivers state and not in Abuja. But the supreme court dismissed his suit for lacking in merit‎, ruling that the tribunal – owing to security reasons – was right to have relocated to Abuja to sit in judgment on the petition of Dakuku Peterside, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April 11 governorship election in Rivers state. -Vanguard.

Culled from: The Citizen Ng