Rivers Senatorial Tussle: Sekibo Loses Appeal, Abe Wins

Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt and Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja thursday dismissed the appeal filed before it by Senator George Thompson Sekibo, challenging the decision of the Rivers State National and State Election Petition tribunal which sat in Abuja.

The tribunal had in June returned Andrew Uchendu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected senator for Rivers East senatorial district.

Delivering judgment in the appeal of Sekibo, Justice Adamu Jauro held that the petition lacked merit and substance and consequently dismissed it.

However, in another judgment delivered by Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru, the court upheld the election of Senator Magnus Abe of Rivers South-east.

The appeal brought against Abe by Oloka Johnson Nwogu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was dismissed for being baseless and lacking in merit.

Justice Abiru said the issues raised by Nwogu in his petition against Abe’s election were criminal in nature which could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

In the judgment in Sekibo’s appeal, the court held that the tribunal was correct in the removal of Sekibo from the Senate on the grounds that the provisions of the Electoral Act were violated in the conduct of the election.

The Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal had in a judgment delivered last June, ordered the removal of Sekibo as the senator representing the people of Rivers East senatorial district at the National Assembly.

The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Goddy Anunihu in the judgment also ordered the immediate replacement of Sekibo with Andrew Uchendu of the APC which the court held was the winner of the senatorial election.

The tribunal also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return it issued to Sekibo and issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Uchendu.

The tribunal’s decision was predicated on the grounds that Uchendu won the lawful majority vote cast during the Rivers Re-run legislative election.

Also the tribunal had sighted substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines for arriving at the decision to order the removal of Sekibo from office.

Not satisfied with the judgment of the tribunal, Sekibo approached the appellate court to upturn the decision of the tribunal.

The appeal with Appeal number: CA/A/EPT/487/2017, dated July 20, 2017 and filed same day by his counsel, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) ,contained 23 grounds upon which the judgment of the tribunal was challenged.

But Justice Jauro refused to upturn the tribunal’s verdict on the grounds that the findings by the tribunal were accurate and correct in law.

The Appeal Court held that where an election has been found to have been conducted in breach of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, such an election shall be liable to dismissal as rightly done by the tribunal.
In the third appeal on Rivers West senatorial district, the appellate court also upheld the election of Senator Osinachukwu Ideozu of the PDP.

The court in the judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Mustapha dismissed the appeal brought against Ideozu by Otelemaba Amachree of the APC

With the judgment thursday, the APC now has two senators while the PDP has one.
Reacting to the judgment, the state chapter of the APC said the victories recorded by Uchendu and Abe at the Court of Appeal as duly elected senators for Rivers East and Rivers South East senatorial districts of Rivers State were quit notice to Governor Nyesom Wike.

The state Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, said in a statement he issued in Port Harcourt yesterday that the judgments were “a culmination of a long quest for justice by the individuals directly, the party collectively and our leader, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.”

He said the judgments also vindicated the party’s position that Uchendu was robbed of victory and attempts made to also rob Abe of his hard-earned victory.

“By this victories, we are serving notice to the PDP in Rivers State and Governor Nyesom Wike to start packing to vacate Government House, Port Harcourt come 2019,” he said.