Nyesom Wike Asks Court Of Appeal To Set Aside Tribunal Judgment Nullyfying His Election

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike,  has filed an Appeal at the Abuja  Division of the Court of Appeal,  asking the Court to set aside the  Judgment  of  the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal  which nullified  his election  on October 24, 2015.

In a Notice of Appeal dated November 3, 2015 and filed same day by his Counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), the Governor raised 26 Grounds of Appeal upon which he sought to set aside the Tribunal Judgment.

The Governor is challenging the entire judgment.

He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as Respondents.

He asked the Court to allow the Appeal and to make an Order setting aside the Judgment/Decision of the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal.

He further urged the Court of Appeal to make an Order striking out or dismissing the petition filed on May 3, 2015 by Dr. Peterside and the APC.”

The Governor  in his Notice  of Appeal  stated: “TAKE NOTICE that the Appellant  being dissatisfied with  the  decision of the  Governorship  Election Tribunal of Rivers State sitting in Abuja,  contained in the  judgment of the  Tribunal  led by Justice Suleiman Ambrosa  (Chairman), Justice  Wesley Ibrahim Leha (Member) and Hon. Justice Bayo Taiwo (Member ) sitting in Court No. 23 of the FCT High  Court dated October 24, 2015, do hereby appeal  to  the  Court of Appeal upon  the  grounds set out in paragraph  3 and will at the  hearing seek the reliefs set out in paragraph 4…”

Wike, among other grounds, noted that the Tribunal erred in law when it relied on hearsay and inadmissible  evidence to nullify his election.

He added that the finding and conclusion of the Tribunal was not supported by evidence.

The Governor  stated in his Notice of  Appeal: “The Governorship  Election Tribunal of Rivers State erred in law when it refused to follow the  decision  of the  Supreme Court  in the  case of Kakih  V. PDP  (2014) 5 NWLR which was duly  cited to it to the effect that  a party who makes non-voting or misconduct  of an election  the pivot of his case must call at least one disenfranchised  voter from each of the  polling  booths  or units or stations in the Constituency.”

Wike also faulted the Tribunal’s decision nullifying  his election on  the  basis of  card reader accreditation  even though  the Electoral Act  recognized manual  accreditation.

According to him, the proof of accreditation of voters under the law is by the production of the Register of Voters bearing the indications of the presiding officer as to the  persons accredited to vote and not by card reader  report.

The Governor said:  “The Tribunal wrongly  neglected, failed  and refused to  abide by and follow  the binding decision of the Court of Appeal in APC V. Olujimi Agbaje : Appeal No: CA/L/EP/GOV./751A/2015 (unreported ) delivered on August 26, 2015,  which was duly cited to it and thereby came to  a wrong conclusion.”

He added that the Petitioners at the Tribunal  failed to disclose  any reasonable cause of  action  against  the Respondents and the Tribunal failed to  conduct a  Pre-trial Conference  after the removal of  the  first  Chairman,  hence the  tribunal  erred in  its judgment.

The Governor  stated: “The tribunal  wrongly countenanced the testimony of delegates  of subpoenaed witnesses which  basically constitutes an indirect alteration of or addition to  the statement  of  facts of the petition without  the  leave of the Court. The testimony of these witnesses  runs counter to the  pleaded case of the Petitioners  and contradict the rest of the evidence of the Petitioners’ witnesses in several  material  particulars.”