EYEWITNESS: Deaths, PVC and other matters that unseated Wike as Rivers state governor

The Rivers state governorship election petitions tribunal is the first to remove a sitting governor in 2015.

While the elections of about five governors have been upheld, the tribunal has ordered that a fresh poll be conducted in Rivers within 90 days.

Two days before the tribunal gave its judgment, the man who has presided over the oil-rich state in the last five months requested that the court dismiss the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But the tribunal found the evidence presented by Dakuku Peterside, candidate of the APC in the election, as substantial and refused to grant Wike’s prayer.

Here are some of the reasons the court cancelled the election.

STATEWIDE VIOLENCE

In the buildup to the election, Rivers recorded the highest rate of violence in the whole country. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) listed the state as one of the flashpoints to watch out for during the election and truly the state was almost turned to a theatre of war during the election.

This reporter was caught in the web of the violence that descended on the state known as the ‘Treasure Base of The Nation’, detailing his experience here.

From Akoko Toru to Obi Akpor to Ikwerre to Gokana, confusion spread across the 23 local government areas of the state and nearly 20 lives had been lost, with many wounded by the time the election was over.

THE REFORMS IN INEC

Despite some flaws, the 2015 election remains one of the best to have been conducted in the history of the country. The introduction of permanent voter card and card reader machine helped in eliminating electoral malpractice.

But being used to the old ways of doing things, supporters of the leading political figures still went ahead to violate the electoral process through  ballot stuffing, hijack of electoral materials and other despicable acts.

When the results of the election were released, Wike was said to have polled 1,029,102 votes ahead of Peterside’s 124,896 votes but figures from the ICT department of INEC later showed that only 293, 072 voters were electronically accredited for the election.

Though there was manual accreditation in areas where the card reader failed, it was evident that the figures were doctored.

TESTIMONIES IN COURT

Another reason why the tribunal could not uphold Wike’s election was because of the testimonies presented by Peterside’s witnesses. Dakuku, as he is popularly known, even went as far as getting an official of the INEC to testify against Wike.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also saw it coming, raising several allegations and unconfirmed reports had it that Wike paid surprise visit to the Abuja residence of the chief justice of the federation, apparently a preparatory move for the ‘judgment day’.

The APC, which is known to have expertise in court, gathered overwhelming evidence against Wike and in a situation like that, any verdict different from the one given would have been alarming, to say the least.