Supreme Court ends debate over Rivers guber polls, affirms Wike as duly elected

  The Supreme Court on Wednesday finally doused the controversy over the governorship election of Rivers state when it affirmed the election of Mr. Nyesom Wike as the governor of the State.

Governor Nyesom Wike

A seven-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed which affirmed Wike’s election as the duly elected governor in the April 2015 elections will, however, give reasons for the judgment on February 12.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal which had both declared  Wike as not having been duly elected.

Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who read the judgment held that the appeal filed by Wike was meritorious.

She declared: “I find and hold that this appeal is meritorious and it is allowed. The judgment of the lower court delivered on the 16th of November 2015 and the judgment of the tribunal delivered on 24th October 2015 are hereby set aside.

“The petition of the petitioners is dismissed. The return of Nyesom Wike as governor of Rivers State by the Independent National Electoral Commission is restored.”

Justices Mohammed, Ibrahim Mohammed Sylvester Ngwuta, Kumai Akaahs and Amiru Sanusi, who were members of the panel agreed with Kekere-Ekun’s lead judgment.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the April 11, 2015 poll, Dakuku Peterside and his party had filed a petition before the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge Wike’s return by INEC as the winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state.

The tribunal, which sat in Abuja held, in its judgment of October 24, 2015, in favour of the petitioners, voided the election on grounds of widespread violence and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. It ordered a rerun election within 90 days.

Wike, PDP and INEC went on appeal against the tribunal’s decision at the Court of Appeal, Abuja. The appellate court, in a unanimous judgment by a five-man panel on November 16, 2015 had upheld the tribunal’s judgment.