The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike will appeal the judgment of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which ordered fresh governorship election on the basis of the card reader accreditation during the election.
Addressing newsmen after the judgment delivered by Justice Suleiman Ambrosa of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Counsel to the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), declared that Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike remains Governor until the appeal processes are exhausted.
He said the nature of the judgment delivered by Justice Ambrosa-led Tribunal makes appeal vital as the new position adopted by the tribunal must be tested in the interest of justice.
Uche noted that the tribunal's reliance on card reader accreditation to nullify the governorship election when evidence was led by both the Respondents and the petitioners that both card reader and manual accreditation were used for the election requires testing at the Court of Appeal.
As stated by him, it was shocking that in less than 24 hours after lawyers on all sides submitted nine written addresses and documents, the Tribunal sent notice that judgment would be delivered on Saturday morning.
Uche said that the tribunal was aware that the Supreme Court judgment on the jurisdiction of the tribunal outside of Rivers State would be delivered on Tuesday. He reminded that the tribunal had seven days to deliver its judgment, but chose to do so in less than two days.
In the Tribunal’s judgment, Justice Suleiman Ambrosa ruled that the card reader accreditation was vital to the election and the votes recorded. He stated that the press statement issued by INEC on the matter supersedes the Electoral Act as the card reader was a new introduction that was aimed to promote transparency.
He said on the balance of probability, he is inclined to believe the petitioner witnesses testified ahead of the witnesses of the Respondents.
The tribunal declared that testimonies of the 56 witnesses called by the petitioner were enough to cover the entire state of 5,972 polling units and points.
Justice Ambrosa declared that the documents tendered by APC which the party failed to lead evidence in court were not dumped on it. He however said that the documents tendered by the Respondents were dumped on it and it would not attach weight to them.