Miller and Braide of Opobo/Nkoro and Degema State Constituencies were on December 1 and Saturday 3, 2016, sacked respectively after the said court found that both candidates were declared winners in the March 19, 2016, re-run by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) based on inflated figures.
In a judgment delivered by the Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, INEC was ordered to issue fresh certificates of return to candidates of the PDP, Adonye Kelly Diri and Farah Dagogo as winners for each of the constituencies respectively.
Rivers PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, described the judgements as a “correction of miscarriage of justice by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),” adding that emergence of the PDP candidates as winners in the elections further proved the “overwhelming and indisputable popularity and stronghold of the PDP” in the state.
Advertisement
“Hon Diri’s victory has again justified the position that the carcass left of the APC, including Mr. Magnus Abe and Dakuku Peterside, can never win any election in the area, having been rejected and deserted by the people of that Constituency,” Obuah said.
“The Rivers PDP happily applauded the highly revered jurists of the Appeal court for taking an unbiased decision and upholding the rule of law, thereby sustaining the dignity of the Judiciary in the face of apparent intimidation and pressure by the undemocratic forces of the All Progressives Congress to subvert the will of the people.
“All the claims by Mr. Abe and Dakuku about their popularity in the Rivers South-East senatorial district have been rubbished by Hon Diri’s victory, wondering where else their hope lies in the December 10 re-run elections, if not with the connivance of the Independent National Electoral Commission, their hired security personnel and political thugs to hijack the electoral process and rig the election in their (APC) favour.”
Speaking further, Obuah described Diri as a “gallant, unwavering, popular and loyal party man, on his victory, particularly for securing winning votes at the polling unit and ward of Dakuku Peterside of the APC in Opobo.”