Rivers governorship poll: Wike,Peterside to know fate this month.

•PDP closes case without calling witnesses
•Magnus Abe to appeal senatorial judgment

The Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has said it will deliver judgment before October 29 in the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Dr Dakuku Peterside.

Tribunal Chairman Justice Mohammed Ambrosa urged the parties to submit their final written addresses, scheduled to be adopted on October 22, before the expiration of the time.

The tribunal chairman spoke yesterday in Abuja after the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) lawyer Gordy Uche (SAN) announced the closure of his client’s case, without calling a witness.

Justice Ambrosa gave the petitioners three days – and each respondent four days – to prepare and file their final written addresses.

He noted that the 180 days, within which the tribunal must determine the petition, would lapse on October 29.Justice Ambrosa assured that the tribunal’s registry would remain open for the parties to file their addresses before October 22, when they would be adopted.

The tribunal chairman added that a day before October 29 would be fixed for the judgment.

APC and Peterside challenged the election of Nyesom Wike as the winner of the April 11 governorship election.

They alleged that the poll was marred by widespread violence and irregularities.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Wike and the PDP are the respondents in the petition.

Earlier yesterday, Uche tendered the result sheets of some polling units across the state and announced the closure of his client’s case.

The lawyer’s submission of the documents came at the end of the six days the tribunal allotted to the PDP to present its case.

Uche did not call any witness; he only tendered some documents, including newspaper clips, incident forms, result sheets, among other documents used during the election.

But the petitioners called 56 witnesses within the 10 days allocated to it.

Their witnesses included APC’s agents and police officers, soldiers, INEC officials and men of the Department of State Service (DSS), who testified that the election was characterised by irregularities and widespread violence.

A petitioner’s witness, Charles Okoye, who is the head of the Election and Party Monitoring Department at INEC, described the poll as militants’ terrorism and a sham.

He said the widespread violence and irregularities in the election made a mockery of democracy.

INEC and Wike – the first and second witnesses – called 16 witnesses each, who insisted that the election was free, fair and devoid of violence.

Also, the state’s Legislative Election Petitions Tribunal, led by Justice Mohammed Sifawa, yesterday dismissed the petition by Senator Magnus Abe of the APC for lacking in merit.

Abe challenged the election of Senator Ulaka Nwogu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Rivers Southeast.

Justice Sifawa, who read the tribunal’s judgment, held that the petitioner failed to prove his allegation that election did not hold in the senatorial district beyond reasonable doubt.

The tribunal chairman said the petitioner was inconsistent, by the evidence he presented to support his claim, that election did not hold.

He said the petitioner failed to substantially prove his case by not calling witnesses from each of the over 1,000 polling units in the senatorial district.

Justice Sifawa said: “In this kind of petition, the onus of proof is substantially on the petitioner and any failure to discharge this onus automatically renders the petition useless.

“From the …evidence before this tribunal, we are convinced that the petitioner did not do the needful, as he failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt his sole allegation that election did not hold in his constituency in the March 28 National Assembly election.

“It must also be stated that the petitioner knows that the onus to prove his allegation rested on his shoulder, but for unknown reasons, refused to discharge the onus as required by law.

“By his failure to establish a prima facie case that there was no election in his constituency, this tribunal has no option than to disregard his allegation in its entirety.

“We, therefore, hold that there was an election and uphold the election of the second respondent (Senator Nwogo) as declared by the first respondent (INEC) while announcing the election result.”

The tribunal dismissed the petition.

Abe said he would appeal the judgment.

The senator said the tribunal was not fair to him by expecting him to call witnesses from the over 1,000 poling units in his senatorial district within the five days allocated to him to present his case.

He said: “The tribunal laid the foundation for its decision in my petition. This is a case of lack of fair hearing because I was not given enough time to call my witnesses to prove my case in the petition.
 So, I will be in the Court of Appeal to challenge the tribunal’s decision.”