A new dimension has been introduced into the simmering political crisis in Rivers State as former Minister of Transport, Abiye Sekibo, and the Secretary to the State Government in the administration of former Governor Celestine Omehia, Hon. Gabriel Pidomson Jnr., have asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to sack Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
Amaechi became governor without participating in the April 14 governorship election in the state, when the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007 held him as the lawful candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), thereby putting an end to the administration of Omehia that commenced on May 29, 2007.
The apex court declared Amaechi’s substitution with Omehia by the party as unconstitutional, saying that the lawful candidate would be deemed, in the eye of the law, to have won the election since the party that ought to field him won.
The plaintiffs in the fresh matter are disagreeing with the apex court and want the lower court to do a proper interpretation of relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution on how a governor can emerge.
In a 33-paragraph affi-davit in support of the suit, the deponent, Sekibo, claimed that he spent more than N50 million campaigning in the run-off to the party’s primaries, adding that he was persuaded to step down for Amaechi.
He also noted that he was not done with his aspiration to rule the state. The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that no person, including Amaechi, could take control of or govern Rivers State in any way or manner other than as provided for in Sections 177, 178, 179 of the 1999 Constitution and Sections 41, 45, 53, 58, 70, 71, 72, 76 and 103 of Electoral Act 2006, when the April 14 governorship election in the state has not been nullified.
They also sought:
�A declaration that combined provisions of Section 178 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999; Section 58 and 70 of the Electoral Act, 2006 provide that the vote cast by the registered voters in Rivers State at the gubernatorial election of 14th April, 2007 cannot be deemed to have been cast for the 5th respondent or any other person who was a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the election but not the candidate at the said election.
�A declaration that the taking of control of the government of Rivers State of Nigeria by the 5th respondent or by any other person who, though he won the PDP primaries as the party’s candidate for the governorship election in the state, was not in any fact a candidate at all at the election, not even a candidate of the PDP, and was not voted for by the voters, violates Sections 1(2) read together with Section 178 and 179 of the Constitution and therefore null and void.