Rivers Tribunal Sacked Wike As Governor Of Rivers State, Orders Re-Election

The Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal has sacked Nyesom Wike as the Governor of Rivers state. 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.