The nullification of the Rivers state governor’s victory in the last April 11 election has continued to brew controversies as the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state launched a defensive attack on the Peoples Democratic Party over what it described as smear campaign on the Nigerian judiciary, Vanguard reports.
The state governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja had on Saturday, October 24, sacked the state governor, Nyesom wike, and ordered a rerun election in the.
There had been recent court pronouncements that appeared not to have favoured the PDP and their candidates at the various election petition tribunals especially the Akwa Ibom and Rivers states governorship election petition tribunals.
However, the APC through its spokesman in the state, Chris Finebone, in a press statement today, October 26, said that the manner at which the PDP launched attacks on the tribunal was shocking.
The APC said: “In what is unfolding as an all-out war, the PDP national working committee, the national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, and the various chapters of the PDP in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, have already thrown every caution in the rule book to the wind in the way they are casting aspersions on the integrity of respected members of the bench whose only offence is that their meticulous and balanced judgments have exposed PDP’s fraudulent and violent escapades during the 2015 general elections”
The statement further said that the APC was worried that a particular media outlet, the African Independent Television (AIT), owned and operated by a PDP Chieftain, has offered itself as the foremost platform for the PDP to execute its insidious smear campaign against the Nigerian judiciary.
The party said that when its candidates were ruled against in various tribunal decisions which favoured the PDP prior to the most recent ones that neither the APC national working committee nor the various affected state chapters of the party came out to impugn the integrity of our judiciary.
In the statement, the party said that instead of embarking on such, they had to resort to appeal in most cases without declaring and levying war on the judiciary the way the PDP is doing now.
The party said: “Particularly, the PDP and their members in Rivers state, including even lawyers, have since Saturday launched various bitter tirades against the character and integrity of the Rivers state election petition tribunal members. Some have openly tried to establish family and marital relationship between the tribunal chairman and some top government officials, knowing same to be false, mendacious and malicious. The APC is still stunned that the spokesman of the Rivers state governor, Mr Opunabo Inko-Tariah, would state that ‘the tribunal has delivered the ruling it was asked to deliver.’ The APC condemns this kind of unguarded vituperation by a government official against a tribunal of eminent judges.
“In summary, the APC understands that by turning to destroy the Nigerian judiciary, the PDP is only employing its usual tactics of intimidation and blackmail whenever their members find themselves at the wrong end of the law, whether over corruption cases or electoral matters as is the present case. This motive common with bandits and buccaneers have proven to fail the PDP in the past and will surely fail them this time around.”
Meanwhile, in what seems to be a twist on events, the immediate past governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, has gone away from being accused of hiving off the state’s funds to accusing his successor, Nyesom Wike, of N45 billion loan taken by his administration.
The state governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja had on Saturday, October 24, sacked the state governor, Nyesom wike, and ordered a rerun election in the.
There had been recent court pronouncements that appeared not to have favoured the PDP and their candidates at the various election petition tribunals especially the Akwa Ibom and Rivers states governorship election petition tribunals.
However, the APC through its spokesman in the state, Chris Finebone, in a press statement today, October 26, said that the manner at which the PDP launched attacks on the tribunal was shocking.
The APC said: “In what is unfolding as an all-out war, the PDP national working committee, the national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, and the various chapters of the PDP in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, have already thrown every caution in the rule book to the wind in the way they are casting aspersions on the integrity of respected members of the bench whose only offence is that their meticulous and balanced judgments have exposed PDP’s fraudulent and violent escapades during the 2015 general elections”
The statement further said that the APC was worried that a particular media outlet, the African Independent Television (AIT), owned and operated by a PDP Chieftain, has offered itself as the foremost platform for the PDP to execute its insidious smear campaign against the Nigerian judiciary.
The party said that when its candidates were ruled against in various tribunal decisions which favoured the PDP prior to the most recent ones that neither the APC national working committee nor the various affected state chapters of the party came out to impugn the integrity of our judiciary.
In the statement, the party said that instead of embarking on such, they had to resort to appeal in most cases without declaring and levying war on the judiciary the way the PDP is doing now.
The party said: “Particularly, the PDP and their members in Rivers state, including even lawyers, have since Saturday launched various bitter tirades against the character and integrity of the Rivers state election petition tribunal members. Some have openly tried to establish family and marital relationship between the tribunal chairman and some top government officials, knowing same to be false, mendacious and malicious. The APC is still stunned that the spokesman of the Rivers state governor, Mr Opunabo Inko-Tariah, would state that ‘the tribunal has delivered the ruling it was asked to deliver.’ The APC condemns this kind of unguarded vituperation by a government official against a tribunal of eminent judges.
“In summary, the APC understands that by turning to destroy the Nigerian judiciary, the PDP is only employing its usual tactics of intimidation and blackmail whenever their members find themselves at the wrong end of the law, whether over corruption cases or electoral matters as is the present case. This motive common with bandits and buccaneers have proven to fail the PDP in the past and will surely fail them this time around.”
Meanwhile, in what seems to be a twist on events, the immediate past governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, has gone away from being accused of hiving off the state’s funds to accusing his successor, Nyesom Wike, of N45 billion loan taken by his administration.
