Nyesom Wike: I will appeal

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said on Saturday that the he will appeal against the nullification of his election by the Election Petition Tribunal.

Wike, whose election was the first to be annulled in the disputed governorship elections this year, spoke with newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, shortly after arrival from Abuja.

He said as a lawyer, he was not supposed to criticise any judge for whatever opinion the judge had.

“ So, what I can say is that the tribunal has given it own verdict, but we know that by the special grace of God, that is not the verdict of God.

“ Nobody can take your mandate, “ he said.

According to Wike, our lawyers are going on appeal. “we are going to appeal”.

He said if need be, the case would get to the Supreme Court.

The governor said he was convinced that he had a good case and that in Lagos, one of the grounds that the PDP governorship candidate went to court was the issue of card reader.

“So, I want to urge you to be calm and be peaceful; I am still the governor of Rivers State.

“Our lawyers are going on appeal; we are all going on appeal. There is also the Supreme Court. We believe that we have a good case, “ he said.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said on Saturday that Nyesom Wike remained the governor of Rivers in spite of the nullification of his election by the election petition tribunal.

The Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Felix Obuah, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that the Electoral Act 2010 guaranteed an elected governor stay in office after giving notice of appeal against a judgement 21 days from the date of the judgement.

He  said the party would get to any legal height to fight the “injustice by the tribunal’’.

The statement also said that there was no reason for the tribunal to have hurriedly delivered the judgement less than 24 hours after adopting the written addresses in a matter that lasted more than four months.