UPDATE: Tribunal Sacks Wike, Orders Re-run, Governor To Appeal

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has said that he will appeal the judgment of the election petition tribunal nullifying his election, The Cable reports. The Rivers state Election Petition Tribunal earlier today sacked Nyesom Wike as the Governor.

Chris Uche (SAN), the counsel to PDP, after the judgment, said that Wike still remains the governor until the appeal processes are exhausted.

The counsel expressed shock that in less than 24 hours after lawyers on all sides submitted nine written addresses and documents, the tribunal sent notice that judgment would be delivered on Saturday, October 24.

Uche said that the tribunal was aware the supreme court judgment on the jurisdiction of the tribunal outside of Rivers state would be delivered on Tuesday, adding that the tribunal had 7 days to deliver its judgment, wondering why it chose to do so in less than two days.

According to Premium Times, the tribunal, which delivered its ruling in Abuja on Saturday, October 24, also ordered that a rerun be conducted in the state.

The petition challenging the election of Wike as the Rivers state governor was filed by Dakuku Peterside, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The APC alongside its gubernatorial candidate, had been contesting the declaration of Governor Wike by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the Rivers state governorship poll in the April 11 gubernatorial election.

However, the APC and Peterside in their petition filed on May 3, had urged the tribunal to nullify the election in the entire 23 local government areas of the state and order fresh one on the account of alleged substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act and Manual for Election Officers 2015.

Governor Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking in substance and merit.

INEC had declared Wike who contested on the platform of the PDP as the winner of the election with 1,029,102 votes as against Peterside’s 124,896.

Wike’s victory is being challenged on the basis of the fact that the elections were marred by violence.

The Rivers state governorship election, which was criticised by local and international observers, witnessed the largest amount of violence both in its build-up and after the elections.