Wike Vs Peterside: Tribunal To Decide Winner Of Rivers Poll

The Rivers state governorship Election Petitions Tribunal will this month, October, deliver judgment in the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Dr Dakuku Peterside against Governor Nyesome Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to the Tribunal, the fate of the duo will be decided before October 29, The Nation reports.

This was disclosed in a statement by the tribunal chairman Justice Mohammed Ambrosa, who urged both parties to submit their final written addresses, scheduled to be adopted on October 22, before the expiration of the time. Speaking yesterday, October 13, in Abuja, Ambrosa gave the petitioners three days and each respondent four days to prepare and file their final written address. This came just after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s lawyer Gordy Uche (SAN) had declared the closure of his client’s case without calling a witness.

According to Ambrosa, the 180 days within which the tribunal must determine the petition will lapse on October 29. He noted that a day before October 29 would be fixed for the judgment. The APC governorship candidate later tendered some documents as exhibits before the tribunal. The documents included a manual of electoral officials, reports of international observers and result sheets.

Peterside expressed his confidence that the tribunal ruling will do justice to the petition so that the Rivers people can once again work as one.

Supporting this assertion, Peterside’s lawyer, Akin Olujinmi (SAN), alleged that what happened on April 11 in the state was the mere allocation of votes by the Independent National Electoral Commission to the candidate of the PDP, Governor Nyesom Wike.

Officers from the Nigerian army had also testified before the Justice Suleman Ambrosa-led tribunal insisting that the April 11 gubernatorial poll did not take place in the state as claimed by the state governor and the INEC.