Reactions have continued to trail the decision of the Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal to nullify the election of Governor Nyesom Wike. The tribunal had annulled the election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct fresh poll within 90 days. However, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Peter Aniekwe, has rejected the verdict, describing it as ominous and foreboding. He spoke with Tony Iwuoma.
How do you see the nullification of Chief Nyesom Wike’s election as Governor of Rivers State?
One must be careful not to criticise the judiciary but as the last hope of the common man, the judiciary should operate above board. It must not been seen to indulge in any act that would cast doubts on its integrity. Much as one is not accusing the eminent jurists of the Rivers State Election Tribunal of any wrong doing, its decision is curious and against known standards of jurisprudence.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, rode to power on the back of anti-corruption crusade. But I have always said that if there is any government agency that would rubbish Buhari’s trumpeted change mantra, it is the judiciary, which, incidentally, is the last hope of the people. The contradictions coming from that hallowed institution is worrisome. It is ironic that while the appeal court in Lagos, an APC-governed state, ruled against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by upholding the use of both card readers and manual accreditation as done all over the country during the elections, in Rivers State, a PDP state, the election tribunal repudiated the ruling of a superior court against all known legal stance that decisions of superior courts take precedence over lower courts, by annulling the Rivers State guber poll on the premises that only card readers were recognised for the elections. Inferentially, the ruling means there were no elections anywhere in the country and all such results including the president’s should be annulled.
One must be careful not to criticise the judiciary but as the last hope of the common man, the judiciary should operate above board. It must not been seen to indulge in any act that would cast doubts on its integrity. Much as one is not accusing the eminent jurists of the Rivers State Election Tribunal of any wrong doing, its decision is curious and against known standards of jurisprudence.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, rode to power on the back of anti-corruption crusade. But I have always said that if there is any government agency that would rubbish Buhari’s trumpeted change mantra, it is the judiciary, which, incidentally, is the last hope of the people. The contradictions coming from that hallowed institution is worrisome. It is ironic that while the appeal court in Lagos, an APC-governed state, ruled against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by upholding the use of both card readers and manual accreditation as done all over the country during the elections, in Rivers State, a PDP state, the election tribunal repudiated the ruling of a superior court against all known legal stance that decisions of superior courts take precedence over lower courts, by annulling the Rivers State guber poll on the premises that only card readers were recognised for the elections. Inferentially, the ruling means there were no elections anywhere in the country and all such results including the president’s should be annulled.
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