Wike in trouble as Tribunal orders service of petition papers on him

The All Progressives Congress and its candidate in the April 11 governorship election in Rivers State, Dr.
Dakuku Peterside, have accused the governor-elect, Mr. Nyesom Wike, of evading service of the processes of their election petition seeking the nullification of the results of the poll.

The petitioners made the allegation through their counsel, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), at the inaugural sitting of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Apo, Abuja on Wednesday.

Akeredolu said all attempts by the bailiff of the court to effect service on Wike had been futile.
He then urged the court, through an ex parte application, to allow the petitioners serve Wike through a substituted means of pasting the process on the wall of his house to avoid unnecessary delay of proceedings.

In a short ruling, Justice Muazu Pindiga-led tribunal, granted the prayer of the petitioners and ordered that substituted service be effected on the respondent  either by pasting the court processes on the  gate of his house or that of the PDP secretariat in Rivers State or in Abuja.

He said the efforts to serve the court papers on the governor-elect  failed due to alleged non-cooperative attitude of the people in Wike’s Port-Harcourt and Abuja homes.

Akeredolu said the court bailiff had on a number of occasions visited  Wike’s residences in Abuja and Port Harcourt but was always  turned back at the gate by the governor-elect’s agents when they found out the bailiff’s mission to serve court processes.

The former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, however, said he could however not establish “whether it was Wike that instructed his agents not to accept service.”

After granting an order of substituted service, the panel then adjourned the case but stated that it would communicate the next hearing date to parties to the petition.

Through their petition, Peterside and the APC are challenging the victory of the PDP candidate on grounds of alleged irregularities and massive rigging that characterised the election.

Other defendants in the petition are the Independent National Electoral Commission and the PDP.

There are other four petitions challenging Wike’s victory before the tribunal.

The other petitioners are Charles Harry of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Tonye Princewill of Labour Party‎, Kemka Elenwo of KOWA Party‎ and Minaibim Harry of the Social Democratic Party.

Earlier in his inaugural speech, the chairman of the panel, Justice Pindiga, had appealed to parties and the media to cooperate with the tribunal in the discharge of its duties.