The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday dismissed an appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr Dakuku Peterside, seeking to reinstate some paragraphs that were struck out from their petition challenging the election of Governor Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The tribunal had at the preliminary stage of Peterside’s petition, struck out paragraphs containing allegations of electoral crime against named and unnamed security agents and alleged political thugs.
But the APC and Peterside were dissatisfied with the ruling and appealed to the Court of Appeal, asking the appellate court to reinstate such allegations.
Despite expunging these criminal allegations from the petition, the tribunal had in its judgement on the matter, nullified Wike’s election.
But the Court of Appeal yesterday held that the tribunal was right when it expunged those criminal allegations from its record. The appellate court further removed from the records, all the evidence against named and unnamed security agents and political thugs in the petition.
The Court of Appeal also yesterday dismissed an application by the APC asking the President of the Court of Appeal to constitute a new panel to hear the appeal that would flow from the judgement of the Justice Suleiman Ambrosa-led Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The APC had appealed an interlocutory ruling of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal wherein all the evidence against named and unnamed security agents and political thugs were struck out from the records of the tribunal because the APC failed to join the said security agents and political thugs in the petition.