The Supreme Court on Friday explained that it affirmed Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as winner of the April 11 2015 governorship election in Rivers state because the governor did not get a fair hearing from the tribunal.
The apex court held that the judgment of the Court of Appeal which validated the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal sacking Wike was a nullity because the facts presented by him were not considered by the tribunal.
While also pointing out that the tribunal was not properly constituted, it explained that chairman of the tribunal, Suleiman Ambursa passed judgment in error because he did not sit over the initial hearing of the case. Ambursa had replaced Mu’azu Pindiga, who was removed in the middle of the hearing of the Rivers governorship election petitions.
The Supreme Court ruled that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in that election, Dakuku Peterside who was the respondent in the appeal, was unable to prove that an election did not take place in Rivers state on April 11. It maintained that the burden of proof was on Peterside to prove that the election was marred by wanton violence, and that it did not take place.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court had in a lead judgment by Justice Kekere-Ekun on January 27, unanimously validated Wike’s election on the grounds that he won with the lawfully valid votes. But at the time this judgment was handed, the panel, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmoud Mohammed, did not explain the reasons for its judgment. It rather picked February 12 as date when the reasons would be made public.
