Rivers State governor- Nyesom Wike- has been cleared to participate in Saturday’s governorship poll in Rivers State.
Wike was accused of presenting forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1430/2018, the petitioner- Elvis Chinda- asked the court to bar Wike from the Rivers State governorship race as the birth certificate submitted to INEC by the governor for clearance to participate in the poll was forged.
The petitioner alleged that the birth certificate- marked- Statutory Declaration of Age- tendered by Wike and purportedly deposed by a certain Collins Nyeme Wike on October 3, 1986 was not genuine.
In the contentious certificate of birth, Nyesom Wike was said to be a native of Rumuepirikom in Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State.
The petitioner stated that as at 1986, Rumuepirikom was a part of Port Harcourt Local Government Area- the parent LGA from which the current Obio Akpor was carved out.
Elvis Chinda also informed the court that “there was no court registry in 1986 that was known as High/Magistrate Court Registry Port Harcourt.”
He averred that Nyesom Wike had misled INEC by passing off a fake birth certificate as the genuine one- an offence under the national’s penal code and invited the court to disqualify Wike’s candidacy.
Ruling on the petition, Justice Iyang Ekwo dismissed Chinda’s suit on the premise that the petitioner could not offer substantial proof to back up his allegations.
Justice Ekwo maintained that Chinda’s allegations were quasi-criminal in nature and ought to be proved beyond every reasonable doubt- something the court believed that Chinda failed to do.
The court therefore resolved the matter in favor of Wike and the PDP who were the second and third defendants.