BEVERLY HILLS, December 16, (THEWILL) – The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has struck out the appeal brought before it by Governor Nyesom Wike seeking a dismissal of the judgment of the Rivers Election Petition Tribunal which sacked him as Governor of the state. The higher court on Wednesday aligned itself with the verdict of the tribunal.
The appellate court, after dismissing all the seven issues Wike raised in his appeal, upheld the decision of the tribunal and ordered that a fresh governorship election be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The five judges of the Court of Appeal agreed on the lead judgment upholding the decision of the tribunal sacking Wike.
The tribunal headed by Justice Suleiman Ambrosa had on October 24 voided Wike’s election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct fresh election in the state within 90 days. But Wike appealed against the judgment, insisting that he was duly elected governor of the state.
In his appeal, he prayed the 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.
Before now, Wike had approached 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.
However, the highest court in the country dismissed his suit as lacking in merit, ruling that the tribunal – owing to security reasons – was right to have relocated to Abuja to deliver judgment on the petition of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the April 11 election, Hon. Dakuku Peterside.
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