The three-man Court of Appeal panel in Abuja has struck out the appeal of Governor 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 Wike’s election of did not conform with the Electoral Act.
The Court ordered fresh election in 90 days.
Delivering a final ruling, the Court of Appeal decided all the seven issues raised by Wike in favour of Dakuku Peterside and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Recall that on Saturday, October 24, the tribunal held that Wike was not duly elected governor. It ordered fresh election to be held in the state within 90 days.
But Wike appealed against the judgment, insisting that he was duly elected governor.
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 previously went 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