The tribunal, headed
by Justice Muazu Pindiga, is to rule on the prayers of Wike, through his
counsels led by Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, asking the tribunal to set aside the order
it made for the inspection of election materials used for the April 11, 2015
governorship election in the state.
The APC and Peterside,
along with the governorship candidates of KOWA Party, Kemka Elenwo; the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Harry, and the Social Democratic
Party (SDP), Minaibim Harry, as well as the Labour Party, LP, in the state, are
challenging the decision of INEC to declare Wike, the winner of the governorship
election.
Prince Tonye
Princewill, governorship candidate of the Labour Party refused to join in the
parties challenging the victory of Wike, describing the PDP and the APC as
‘birds of the same feather.’
Though immediate past
Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, a Professor of Political Science, and the
commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Gesila Khan,
insist the 2015 general elections in the State was free and fair.
Wike and his party are
worried over the resumption of the tribunal’s sitting given the recent
clampdown on officials of the INEC in Akwa Ibom, Austin Okojie, and the
rumoured invitation of the Rivers REC, Gesila Khan by the Inspector General of
Police, Solomon Arase, in response to a petition by the APC alleging
obstruction of the process of inspecting the electoral materials used for the
elections in the State.
Also the social media
has been rife with insinuations of attempts to bribe members of the tribunal to
tilt the outcome of the case in favour of the Wike and the PDP.
Wike and INEC, through
their counsels, have separately challenged the competence of all the petitions
as well as the jurisdiction of the tribunal to conduct the proceeding outside
Rivers State where the election took place.
Wike’s lead counsel,
Ukala had during the June 23, 2015 sitting of the tribunal argued that the
ex-parte order made was unknown to law and that it breached the provisions of
the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, adding that the order was made despite a
motion challenging the jurisdiction of the Tribunal pending before the court.
The tribunal chairman,
Pindiga, adjourned the case until today, Monday, July 6, to enable parties file
their replies on point of law and for the hearing of all the pending
applications.
On June 11, 2015, the
tribunal ordered that the APC and its agents be allowed access into INEC office
along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, to inspect materials used for the governorship
election.
The tribunal ordered
as follows, “That leave is hereby granted the petitioners/applicants to bring
and argue this application outside or before the pre-hearing session.
“The first respondent
is hereby directed to allow the petitioners/applicants personally and or
through their agents, including their solicitors and forensic experts to
inspect, copy, photocopy and obtain certified true copies of all electoral
materials related to, or connected with the conduct of the Rivers State
governorship election held on 11th and 12th days of April 2015.”
But, the APC on June
19, 2015, accused some top officials of INEC in the state of deliberately
denying its agents access to some election materials as ordered by the Election
Petitions Tribunal.
The party’s agent
during the general elections, Barrister Achinike Williams-Wobodo, stated that
apart from its first request to INEC on April 12, 2015, demanding to have
access to election materials, the APC had between then and June 13, 2015, sent
10 reminders to the commission demanding to have access to the materials.
The State INEC REC,
Gesila Khan, has, however, denied the allegation by APC that she was
frustrating the party from accessing materials used during the April 11
Governorship and House of Assembly election in the State.
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