Last week, the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal nullified the April 11 governorship election in which former Minister of Education and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Nyesom Wike, was declared the
winner.
The tribunal also ordered a rerun of the poll. Except a higher court – the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court – gives a contrary ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission has been ordered to conduct a fresh poll within 90 days.
It will be recalled that INEC had declared Wike the winner of the poll with 1,029,102 votes, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, came second with 124,896 votes and Mr. Tonye Princewill, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, got 10,142 votes.In nullifying the governorship election in the state, the tribunal held that the election of Wike failed to substantially comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
However, Peterside and the APC had rejected the election, describing it as a sham before heading for the tribunal, which, on October 24, 2015, cancelled the election and ordered a rerun within 90 days. Swiftly, Wike and the PDP declared that they would appeal the tribunal’s judgement at the Court of Appeal.
A week after the tribunal’s ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed a suit filed by Wike, challenging the authority of the state governorship election tribunal to sit in Abuja. The governor also opposed the failure of the President of the Court of Appeal to consult with the Rivers State Chief Judge and President of the Customary Court of Appeal before constituting the tribunal.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the President of the Court of Appeal had the powers to transfer the sitting of the tribunal to Abuja to safeguard the lives of the judges and their staff. The apex court also ruled that in view of the fact that Rivers had no chief judge or Customary Court of Appeal, it would have been impossible for the president of the appellate court to have consulted them before the constitution of the tribunal. The two courts’ rulings imply that the only way to change the situation is for Wike to lodge an appeal against the ruling by the tribunal.
In the event of a rerun of the election, close watchers of political events in the state say the biggest battle, again, will be between Wike and Peterside – between the PDP and the APC.
Speaking on the political situation in the state, Dr. Nfon Ekpootu of the Department of History, University of Port Harcourt, said the political scenario was already in a mess. She added that it might be difficult to get a free and fair election in Rivers.
Having lost the presidency to the APC, the PDP would not want to lose Rivers to the ruling party, she added.
The scholar explained that given the situation on ground and with the payment of workers’ and pensioners’ backlog of salaries and pensions, Wike could have the upper hand in the rerun.
Speaking on Peterside’s chances, Ekpootu pointed out that though Peterside possessed the qualities of a gentleman, he might not be rugged and experienced enough to handle the situation in the state.
Ekpootu said, “To speak on who may become the governor in the event that there is a rerun is difficult because the political scenario in the state is messed up. If we have a well laid-out standard in terms of having a free and fair election, then it will be easy to predict who will win in a rerun.
“There is no doubt that the PDP and the APC will not let go. The PDP, after losing out at the centre, will not want to lose Rivers to the APC. However, a rerun will not change the problem of rigging because we may still see electoral malpractices and that is why it is difficult to say if the PDP or the APC will win.
“In a free and fair election, Wike may get the people’s sympathy. Again, people may also want to look at Peterside, but he has to have a rugged sense of politics; it is not just about being a gentleman: he must be diplomatic, have good control and be ‘rugged.’ Being ‘rugged’ does not mean that we want bad people to lead the state. Rivers is not like other states; it is strategic to the country.”
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