How Wike Lost out

About 60 witnesses were called by Dakuku to prove his case before the tribunal.

Most of the witnesses called by the respondents in the case turned down the request by the counsel to the petitioner to read documentary evidence before the tribunal.

At some point while the trial lasted, most of the witnesses claimed that they were not the authors of the evidence before the tribunal and therefore, could not read them.

But one of the witnesses called in the course of the proceedings, from INEC’s monitoring unit, told the tribunal that the election was characterised by violence and irregularities.

During the adoption, INEC however defended the governorship election it conducted, urging the tribunal to uphold Wike’s election.

The commission’s counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition.

He said that the petitioners, the APC and its governorship candidate, Peterside, had failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them to substantiate their claim that election did not take place in the state on April 11.

According to him, the petitioners failed to prove their allegations polling unit by polling unit.

He argued that the few witnesses called by the petitioners were not participants in the election and that their testimonies counted for nothing as already established by the Supreme Court in a plethora of cases.

Ikpeazu had also said that the soldiers, mobile policemen and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) invited by the APC gave generic and contradictory evidence which had no relevance in relation to voting at the polling units.

He had therefore on those grounds, urged the tribunal to hold that their testimonies were unreliable.

The INEC counsel declared that on the premise of the Supreme Court judgment in the case between Buhari and Obasanjo, INEC guidelines could not supersede the Electoral Act.

He further argued that the Electoral Act did not limit accreditation to card readers alone and added that the reports tendered by the Rivers State APC were rejected by INEC before Wike was returned as winner of the election. Such reports, according to him, were no longer tenable.

But the petitioners led by their counsel, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, SAN, had urged the tribunal to grant the reliefs sought in their petition.

He asked the tribunal to hold that there was no election in Rivers on April 11, 2015.

He said the petitioners had discharged the burden of proof placed on them and that the onus had since shifted to the respondents.

Olujinmi further pointed out that though the card readers did not replace the voters register, they were vital to credible accreditation.

However, the PDP had urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit and substance.

In his submission, another counsel to the PDP, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, had noted that the petition was incompetent and pointed out that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to amend the petition of the APC, especially the reliefs already abandoned by the party.

He asserted that whilst the petitioner alleged several cases of violence and abduction of voters, the petitioners failed to lead any evidence in that direction or call any witness to prove their claim.

Similarly, Wike called on the tribunal to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the petitioners failed to prove the several allegations against his election on April 11, 2015.

His counsel, Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, declared that the Rivers state APC governorship candidate, Peterside, was not qualified to contest the April 11 election because his nomination contravened Section 85 (1) of the Electoral Act.

He cited the case of Wike V Labour Party wherein the Appeal Court held that Section 85 (1) of the Electoral Act is critical to the nomination of a candidate.

He said the petition was not properly before the tribunal because the Rivers state APC gubernatorial candidate was not duly nominated.

Ukala said that the failure of the petitioner to call witnesses who conducted the election was fatal to his case.

He said that out of the 5,792 forms available for the conduct of the governorship election, the Rivers state APC only tendered about 3,000, contrary to the law which states that all the forms be tendered.

Reacting to the judgment, counsel to the PDP, Chris Uche, SAN, said that the party will test the popularity of the judgment in the Court of Appeal and possibly, the Supreme Court.

“It was wrong of the tribunal to lay heavy weather on the use of card reader when INEC itself admitted that both card reader and manual can be used where there are challenges,” he stated.

Uche further faulted the judgment on the ground that the parties adopted their briefs in less than 48 hours, following which judgment was delivered.

In his reaction, Peterside said the people of Rivers were happy with the judgment and that it had given them an opportunity to vote for who they wanted.

http://leadership.ng/news/469593/how-wike-lost-out-at-governorship-tribunal

Eeyah....that funny moment when peterside still loses in the rerun

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#My#Opinion

wike is now an ex governor

ladyF:
Eeyah....that funny moment when peterside still loses in the rerun

Thank goodness you know.

What if...

If wike and PDP feel they will still win ...then why are the whining ? They should just chill for the rerun ...that's how you guys said Buhari can never be president , amaechi can never be minister etc that it was south south turn to rule ..but u guys never knew it was the riverine turn in rivers state .. Let's wait till the polls decide sha

I wonder why some of us in the name of partisanship support the shabby process that brought in Wike as the governor.....let the court set a good precedence, no card reader no valid election......let there be a rerun and let the popular man win simple......a good precedence may come in favour of would be piliticians amongst us in future vice versa!

An election was adjudged not in compliance with the electoral laws yet no one was recommended for punishment by the the court.

The case will proced to the Appeal court with both parties in the suit spending more money and if the appeal court orders a rerun, both parties will even spend more and INEC will have to deploy human and material resources which will also cost money.

The biggest loser in all these to me are the people of Rivers state. Their commonwealth will be spent by their selfish leaders and politicians on issues that will only benefit them.

So I ask, where is the interest of the common Rivers state man or woman in all these?

Let the moment come first.for now let's do things the right way.after 21 days Wike pls you have to shift aside

ladyF:
Eeyah....that funny moment when peterside still loses in the rerun

If I hear

let's watch and see what happens next

even wike knows he is a loser.

prettytasha:
If wike and PDP feel they will still win ...then why are the whining ? They should just chill for the rerun ...that's how you guys said Buhari can never be president , amaechi can never be minister etc that it was south south turn to rule ..but u guys never knew it was the riverine turn in rivers state .. Let's wait till the polls decide sha

This ir rivers state and not your infested osun state of the Southwest

Appeal court can still overturn the ruling. Even the jurisdictional tussle can change the tide of events

We all knew Wike and mummy shepopotemus rigged the election and would eventually be booted out !!!!

The Emperor of Northern Nigeria is seriously interested in an oil producing state hence the results of the tribunal

Ok

it's a pity. Isn't it?

"No one can stop Wike from going to jail this year".. QUOTE ME WRONGLY AND GET HIT BY THE BULL

.

APC is fraudulent.

.

ladyF:
Eeyah....that funny moment when peterside still loses in the rerun

....from his name, is evident that he would still stay "aside" I.e peter-aside

Firefire:
APC is fraudulent.

Dem defraud ur papa

Yorubas leave Rivers alone and face your backward states. Wike will remain Rivers Governor till 2019 at the very least.

I ASK AGAIN: COULD NYESOM EZENWO WIKE (NEW) BE ANOTHER CELETINE OMEHIA IN THE MAKING?

***Goes to google to confirm***

see bobby schmurda rhymes...

...you was governor about a WIKE go, WIKE go!!!!

dont worry,we all know you might still win,so no yawa...but seriously,election rigging should be a crime punishable by jail term...oya wailers!!! over to you.

tyson99:

Dem defraud ur papa

Sorry son.

Heyah they want to turn him to former governor...Oya pray to recovery your destiny now