Supreme Court upholds Wike’s, Umahi’s elections as duly elected governors

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Nyesom Wike of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as governor of Rivers State.
The court in its ruling said detailed reasons for the verdict would be provided on February 12, 2016, as it did not provide reasons for upturning the verdict of the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal had on December 16, 2015, affirmed the judgment of the Rivers Governorship Election Tribunal, which ruled that Wike was not validly elected.
The elections petition Tribunal had earlier nullified Wike’s election, ordering that a fresh governorship election be conducted in the state. Upon the verdict of tribunal’s, Wike preceded to the Court of Appeal, and then the Supreme Court, insisting that the said judgment was untenable.
Also, the apex court has upheld the election of Dave Umahi as validly elected governor of Ebonyi State.
The election was upheld in a unanimous decision of a seven-member panel of justices, headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Muhammed.
The apex court dismissed the appeal challenging the election of Umayi for lacking in merit.
The CJN, while dismissing the appeal brought by the Labour Party’s (LP) gubernatorial candidate, Edward Nkwegu slated February 5, 2016 to give reasons for its judgment in the appeal.