Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has described his victory at the apex court as victory for democracy and the people of the state. He spoke moments after the Supreme Court upheld the outcome of the April 11 governorship election that brought him to power.
The apex court in a unanimous judgment, restored the declaration of Wike as the valid winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Justice Kekere-Ekun who delivered the lead verdict, held that three separate appeals that were filed by Wike, PDP and INEC, were “meritorious”.
Concurrent judgments of both the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and that of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal were all set aside by the Supreme Court.
The apex court panel headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed however reserved their reasons for the judgment till February 12. The intervention of the Supreme Court has been hailed as a fitting procedure to arrest the odium that some judgments by the appellate courts and tribunals have visited on the nation’s polity.
