Rivers: Sekibo loses seat as Appeal Court orders rerun

The Senator representing RiversEast Senatorial district, Senator George Sekibo, lost the fight to retain his seat at the Senate, on Wednesday, as the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt struck out his appeal to stop a rerun election for his seat.The Election Petitions Tribunal in Port Harcourt, chaired by Justice Veronica Umeh, had, on October 24, overturned Senator Sekibo's victory due to the Independent National Electoral Commission's (INEC's) refusal to obey an Abuja High Court order, which asked the commission to include the name of the Action Alliance (AA) senatorial candidate for the district, Chizi Atata, on the ballot.However, the Appeal Court based its decision, on Wednesday, on the lack of merit of Senator Sekibo's appeal to reverse the election tribunal's decision.The chairman of the Appeal Court panel, Justice M.D. Muhammad, said the court threw out the appeal for lack of merit and directed the INEC to obey the earlier judgment by the tribunal to organise a rerun of the election within 90 days.Responding to his victory at the Appeal Court, the senatorial candidate of the AA for Rivers East district, Atata, hailed the judiciary for its forthrightness and choice to stand by the truth.He said the victory reflected the wish of ordinary voters, whom he said now had the opportunity and the freedom to choose whoever they wanted.He had, at the last tribunal victory, called for a cleansing of the INEC, as he it was a system infiltrated by corrupt individuals. He added that this was only when the system would move forward.'Those who excluded my name from the ballot papers are the bad eggs in the commission and such people must be expunged from the system if Nigeria must move forward,' he said.
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