The Supreme Court has upturned the judgement of both the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Appeal Court which nullified the victory of the state Governor Nyesom Wike, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 11, 2015 governorship election.
Consequently, the Wike government, labelled pejoratively as the Caretaker Government by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) will remain in power in the state for the next four years after all.
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Wike won the election. In other words, the re-run governorship election ordered by the two lower courts have been nullified.
In its lead judgment by Justice Kekere-Ekun, the court unanimously validated his election on the grounds that he won with the lawfully valid votes.
However, the panel, led by Justice Mahmoud Mohammed, Chief Justice of Nigeria, did not explain the reasons for its judgment. Instead, it said the reasons would be given on February 12.
In October 2015, the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which sat in Abuja nullified Wike’s election, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh poll.
Two months later, the Appeal Court unanimously dismissed all the seven issues Wike raised, and upheld the decision of the tribunal on the conduct of a fresh governorship election be held.
He had asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal, arguing that the lower court failed to consider the evidence tendered before it: That a proper election took place in Rivers State on April 11.
-TheCable
