A row broke out yesterday on the Supreme Court judgment affirming the election of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.
An online media, Sahara Reporters, raised posers on the verdict, a development Wike has condemned.
The report reads: “At a special thanksgiving to celebrate the decision of the Supreme Court, Governor Wike told the congregation that Dr. Peter Odili was his adviser during the legal battle.
“Wike’s words have provoked questions on what kind of advice Odili, a doctor, could be offering in purely a legal matter that was before the apex court. Was Odili getting vital tips that swung the case in Wike’s favour from his wife, who is in the Supreme Court? Who were the people Odili told Wike to see when the matter was before the Supreme Court? Questions have continued to swirl around the role played by Justice Mary Odili. A source familiar with the matter said suspicions of underhand dealings are strengthened by Wike’s meeting with Justice Ngwuta at a funeral service organised by the Odilis.
“Could it be that attending the service and meeting with Justice Ngwuta was one of the pieces of advice the Odilis gave to Wike?”
The report added: “On the issue of violence, legal analysts are wont to refer to an earlier Supreme Court judgment on the relocation of the election tribunal from Port Harcourt to Abuja. The Supreme Court had ruled in favour of moving the tribunal to Abuja because there was violence before, during and after the elections in Rivers State.
“But in a curious twist, the same court, in the governorship election judgment, said the APC and its candidate, Peterside, did not provide evidence of violence in Rivers State.”
Wike, in statements by Commissioner for Information Austin Tam-George and Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, condemned the report.
Tam-George said: “We deny and reject the allegation that Governor Wike or anyone acting on his behalf had any contact whatsoever with the justices of the Supreme Court.
“Were the favourable verdicts by the apex court for Akwa Ibom State, Abia State, Taraba State, etc, also hatched in Mbaise? Or were those plots orchestrated in the neighbouring community of Mbaitoli?
“How come the Odilis were unable to influence the apex court’s decision to relocate the sitting of the Election Petition Tribunal from Port Harcourt to Abuja, despite the strong arguments canvassed by Governor Wike’s legal team?”
Nwakaudu’s statement reads: “The report by Sahara Reporters is false. It is not true that Nyesom Ezenwo Wike met with any of the Supreme Court Justices to influence the panel that upheld the governor’s election.
“Sahara Reporters and their co-travellers will not inform the public that Justice John Okoro, Justice Igbuta and Justice Mary Odili were on the panel that dismissed Governor Wike’s appeal on the territorial jurisdiction of the Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal. When the judgment of the Supreme Court favoured the APC, Sahara Reporters and their co-travellers did not raise any questions.
“Aside Rivers State, the Supreme Court also upheld the governorship elections in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Oyo, Kaduna, Plateau, Kebbi, Zamfara, Taraba, Ebonyi, Ogun, Gombe, Yobe and Delta states on the same legal principles. Was Sahara Reporters expecting the Supreme Court to apply different legal principles in deciding the case of Rivers State?”