Wike: My Supreme Court Victory Not Unexpected

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, at the weekend said he expected the confirmation of his re-election by the Supreme Court, because the defeated governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Mr. Biokpomabo Awara, could not have won an election he did not contest.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, upheld Wike’s victory in the March 9 gubernatorial election.

The Apex Court, in a judgment delivered by a panel of three Justices, upheld Wike’s appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal, which reinstated the petition of the candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Biokpomabo Awara.

The Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal had earlier in October dismissed the petition of AAC candidate, Awara, declaring Wike winner of the poll, which was later challenged by the AAC candidate at the Court of Appeal.

But speaking shortly after the Supreme Court judgment, Wike said from the very beginning, there was no issue, because the AAC Candidate posed no problem since he was unknown to Rivers people.

He said he only got to know of Awara about two days to the election, because such a person never existed in the political artery of the state.

“I expected the confirmation, because the law is clear. The man who is challenging us never contested any election, so he could not have won. It is so painful, but what do you do?

“It is part of life. If he really ran election with us, one can say there could be a problem. A man that I never knew till a few days to the election, how would it have been that the man won the election? So, I expected that the Court would do the right thing, which they did.”