By Baron Ike
(A
dditional report from Premium Times)
It was wide jubilation in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday as news of the sacking of Senator George Sekibo by the Court of Appeal was broken to supporters of his opponent, Andrew Uchendu.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja sacked Sekibo as Rivers East Senator, upholding an earlier ruling of the Rivers National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal that favoured Uchendu.
The three-member appeal panel led by Adamu Jauro delivered its judgement on Thursday, August 24.
Consequently, the appellate court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return from Sekibo and give same to Uchendu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The APC members across the state could not hide their joy as most of them said the victory is sign of what to expect in 2019.
Sekibo contested the December 2016 Rivers legislative rerun polls as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was then announced as the winner by INEC, after a confrontation that almost resulted in bloodshed at the Port Harcourt City Hall.
In June, the tribunal nullified Sekibo’s election, saying that Uchendu earned the majority of lawful votes cast and that there was substantial non-compliance with the electoral law in the process of the poll.
But Sekibo approached the appeal court, expressing dissatisfaction with the tribunal’s ruling.
However, on Wednesday, the appeal court upheld the ruling of the tribunal, thereby halting Sekibo’s Senate career which started in 2007.
Rivers APC chieftain and NIMASA boss, Peterside Dakuku, in a telephone chat with PREMIUM TIMES, hailed the ruling.
As the suit arose from an election and is not a pre-election matter, the decision of the Appeal Court is final. With the development, APC will now have 67 members and PDP 41 in the Senate. One seat, Anambra Central, has been vacant since the removal of Uche Ekwunife by the court last year.