Judgement, an embarrassment – PDP govs
Party summons emergency meeting
By Emeka Nze
Abuja
As reactions continued to greet the judgement of the Rivers state elections petition tribunal which annulled the election of the state governor, Nyesom Wike, the Supreme Court will today deliver judgment on whether or not the tribunal was right to have conducted its proceedings in Abuja.
A panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice John Fabiyi, had listened to the grounds of appeal filed by Wike on October 16, and fixed judgment for Tuesday.
This is coming as the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), slammed the judgement, describing it as both hasty and an embarrassment.
The tribunal, alongside those of Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba and Akwa Ibom states, were relocated to Abuja on security ground.
In its verdict on Saturday, the Rivers’ tribunal, nullified the last governorship election in the state that produced Wike of the PDP and ordered another a fresh election.
Wike and the Independent National Electoral Commission, both of who were respondents in the petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Dakuku Peterside, challenged the tribunal’s decision to conduct its assignment in the nation’s capital city.
But the panel dismissed the respondents objection to its jurisdiction to sit and here the petition in Abuja, declaring that it could sit outside the state where election was held to decide any dispute arising from such election on ground of insecurity.
This decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal, Abuja, from where Wike appealed the judgement at the apex court.
However, to the PDP governors, the tribunal judgement annulling Wike’s election was certainly one judgement handed down in bad state.
This position was made known by the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo state, who faulted the three-man tribunal on the grounds that its judgment was too hasty as it came less than 48 hours that both parties submitted their written addresses.
He said: “Our mindset is that tribunal judgment can go either way, but the Rivers own is particularly embarrassing. We all know the circumstances surrounding the Rivers State tribunal. You recall now that for unjustifiable course that tribunal was not allowed to sit in Port Harcourt, it was taken to Abuja, and somewhere along the line the chairman of the Tribunal got changed.
“Now we challenge the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and it has gotten to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will give judgement in the next few days. The Abuja Tribunal continues to sit. On Thursday, nine written addresses were adopted.
“The adoption of the written addresses was done at 1pm on Thursday. In the course of that trial, the litigants; both plaintiffs and defendants called more than 100 witnesses, documents that were presented as exhibits were more than 1,000.
“We are talking of more than 100 witnesses and 1,000 documents were admitted, we are talking of nine written addresses. None of the addresses were less than 40 pages.
“The adoption was on Thursday, around 1pm and Friday around 2pm, barely under 24 hours, notice had been issued that judgement was ready, that judgment was given on Saturday. This sequence and turn of event assault the sensibilities of lawyers that really believe in justice.”
“Remember the issue of jurisdiction which is fundamental is bound to give judgment this week. The question is why could the tribunal not have waited? Wait for the Supreme Court judgment which would naturally impact on their own outcome. Let the Supreme Court rules that they do not have jurisdiction ab initio.”
While expressing confidence that his party would get favourable judgement at the appellate court, he said “however, if elections are held 100 times in Rivers State, PDP will still win, it is PDP’s territory.”
Meanwhile, the national leadership of the PDP has summoned an emergency meeting of the party’s national caucus to discuss what it described as “the current onslaught against the party and its candidates in the last general elections, by the APC-led federal government.”
Its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said the caucus, which will meet on Thursday, would focus on the “unrelenting schemes by the APC and its federal government to use some unpatriotic elements in the judiciary to advance their plot to take over states won by the PDP, particularly Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Taraba and Abia states.”
It said: “The national caucus meeting is in furtherance of the decision of the leadership of the party to fully activate its structures in stiff resistance to the manipulations, coercions and
threats of the APC-led government, and in line with the unbending determination by the party not to, in any way whatsoever surrender any mandate freely given it to by the people at any level across the country, no matter the pressure.”