The political gamble made by Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to use the technicality of Nigeria’s legal system to negotiate for more time, in order to
show up support for embattled senatorial candidates, after he himself was delegitimized by a ruling in an appellate court on Wednesday resulted in a huge political dividend as Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Wike did win in the controversial poll attended by violence and alleged ballot stuffing.
The Supreme Court, however, failed to give elaborate explanations on how it arrived at the decision to keep Wike on the seat as the Governor of Rivers State. It said the justifications for the conclusions drawn on Wednesday to keep Wike, a lawyer and former Minister of State for Education, in office would be contained in a document that would be released on February 12, 2016.
The appeal court had ruled that Mr. Wike was not validly elected.
The Rivers Tribunal had earlier on October 24 nullified Mr. Wike’s election.
The tribunal, which delivered its ruling in Abuja, also ordered that a fresh governorship election be conducted in the state.
After the tribunal’s ruling, the governor headed to the Court of Appeal, saying the judgment was untenable.
The petition challenging the election of Mr. Wike as Rivers State Governor was filed by Dakuku Peterside, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the election.