Wike, Peterside always in self-awarded tribunal victories

The gubernatorial war in Rivers State has continued to rage from front to front with each combatant always awarding victory to self, thereby throwing the populace into confusion as to who the true victor is in every single battle.

The battle has been between Nyesom Wike of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), now governor of the state since May 29, 2015, and Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former commissioner of works in the state and House of Representatives member until May 29, over the governorship crown.

Now, the tribunal sitting in Abuja over the April 11 governorship election in the state has ruled on critical motions before it, but both Peterside and Wike’s camps claim to have won. A Peterside (APC) point-man at the tribunal said the former gubernatorial candidate floored Wike again on Monday, July 27, 2015, when the tribunal assumed jurisdiction in the matter.

“Wike had challenged the tribunal’s jurisdiction, questioning its sitting in Abuja, but the tribunal ruled it had the jurisdiction to sit in Abuja and entertain the hearing,” he said.

The APC said their candidate was upbeat about the steady victories in the tribunal and had already said he now expected accelerated hearing of the substantive matter on its merit so the world would know if there were elections in Rivers Stare or not. He was quoted by his mouthpiece thus: “Nobody should benefit from visiting violence on the people and violating electoral laws. Impunity must stop so our society will be one of equal opportunity for all”.

The tribunal was also to rule on Wednesday, July 29, on eligibility of Peterside as contested by Wike. Wike had also challenged the fitness of the APC candidate for the poll on the ground that the APC did not give the electoral umpire the mandatory 21 days notice of filing the name of its candidate for the election. The APC had denied the allegation, saying it satisfied all conditions for eligibility.

On the day of ruling, the APC went to town saying Peterside had floored Wike again and that its candidate was inching steadily to a final victory as the tribunal had allegedly ruled that Peterside was eligible.

The party told Wike to correctly read the handwriting on the wall and adjust its level of confidence. “We happily welcome the striking out, Wednesday, by the tribunal of the eligibility suit filed against the APC gubernatorial candidate. With this, the stage is set for the unraveling of the big scam that saw Wike illegally occupying the Rivers Government House.”

 The party even congratulated Peterside for all the successes he has so far allegedly recorded at the tribunal and urged him not to relent until Wike’s victory was upturned. “We remain fully convinced that Peterside is the popular choice of Rivers people and that he will retrieve his stolen mandate sooner than later.”

The PDP immediately countered the APC gloating, saying the report in a section of the media was false and misleading.

Felix Obuah, the state chairman, who has since picked up the job of sole administrator of the state’s waste management agency, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, claimed that the ‘false report’ emanated from APC’s Peterside was part of spreading alleged falsehood.

The PDP noted that Peterside was not at the Tribunal and did not witness the proceeding on Wednesday, July 29, 2015, when the ruling was delivered.

What happened in the Tribunal, according to the PDP, was that “the Tribunal gave a terse ruling and said it was adopting its earlier ruling delivered on Monday, July 27, 2015; that it is properly constituted and thus has jurisdiction to hear the matter. The rest of the grounds and issues, including the 21 days mandatory notice were not decided. In the opinion of the Tribunal, the motion will be heard alongside the petition proper”.

PDP went on: “The Tribunal did not rule on the motion of noncompliance with the mandatory 21 days notice as enshrined in the Electoral Act or the eligibility of Dakuku Peterside as governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC. The Motion is still alive before the Tribunal.”

The PDP explained that although it was not shocked at this development, but that it was concerned by the grave danger the actions of Peterside and the APC could cause to the peace and development achieved in Rivers State since the assumption of office by Wike as governor of the state.

The party said: “We reiterate the fact that this is one of the deliberate attempts by the APC to cause disaffection and undue anxiety in the state  but warned against what it called widely circulated and sponsored media reports, especially about purported striking out of Governor Wike’s application challenging the eligibility of Dakuku Peterside”.

The PDP insisted that no amount of propaganda and lies would change the mandate Rivers’ people “willingly” gave to Wike to govern the state. The PDP called on the people of Rivers State and indeed, all Nigerians, to disregard such unfounded claim by Peterside camp.

At every stage of any case between the two camps in court, each camp went to town with its own version of the ruling. When the federal high court ruled on the local council elections in

May, the Wike camp said the judge stopped the election by asking a return to status quo, while the Peterside/Amaechi camp said there was no order stopping the election, and went ahead to hold the election. The court was to later shoot down the councils by a judgment in July.

When the tribunal earlier ordered INEC to surrender the electoral materials used in the April elections to the APC for inspection, both camps kept giving different versions until the matter went back to the tribunal for interpretation, and at last, it was re-affirmed that INEC should open up its vaults for petitioners/litigants to inspect the materials.

Also, the National Industrial Court in Yenagoa had ruled on a motion brought before it by the APC and its new council chairmen and ordered Wike not to dissolve them. This was also hotly contested by both camps as Wike camp said the ruling did not mean that government should not disband the council chairmen. The PDP had said the APC deceived the people “in its characteristic of spreading falsehood”.