Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has twice visited the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, at the Supreme Court in Abuja only this month, The Punch reports.
Governor Nyesom Wike
According to The Punch, one of the visits to the CJN coincided with the day the Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal conducted hearing in an application filed by Wike to challenge an order permitting his opponent to inspect the electoral materials used for the poll that brought him to office.
The source notes that the visits were made without prior appointments.
The election of Nyesom Wike (PDP) is being challenged by Dakuku Peterside, the APC governorship candidate.
On July 9 the Rivers State Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal had reaffirmed its ex parte order made on June 11, 2015, granting permission to Peterside to inspect the electoral materials. On May 3 Peterside filed the petition before the tribunal to challenge the victory of Wike.
However, the tribunal had in a ruling dismissed Wike’s application. The institution also adjourned till July 22 for the commencement of the pre-hearing session in the petition.
An anonymous source in the “governor’s entourage” said: “There was no proper appointment because as soon as the governor stepped in and said he would like to see the CJN and was asked if it was on appointment, he answered in the negative. Nevertheless, he was allowed to see the CJN; but unfortunately, the CJN was not in the country as he was in Saudi Arabia for the Lesser Hajj.”
Chief Chris Finebone, who is the APC publicity secretary in Rivers state, stated that the visit was curious.
He said: “We have no cause to doubt the integrity of the CJN, but we must say that the visits must have been made open and known to Nigerians. Why was it not made known?Wike believes that every human being has a price. His problem is just to identify the price. His case is pending and he refused to go with the media during the visits.We want to believe that the visits didn’t happen and if it happened, he must tell Nigerians why he chose to embark on the visit without the media.”
Reacting, Chief Olisa Metuh from PDP said there was nothing wrong with the visits.
Metuh stated that the governor had the right to pay official visit to the CJN, adding that Wike should not be vilified because of that.
In his turn Wike has denied that his visit to the CJN had anything to do with his case.
Nyesom Wike said,: “I didn’t go there to lobby for anything cynical. If I was going to lobby for anything like that, would I go in the afternoon? You may wish to know that we have an acting Chief Judge in my state, and the judiciary is already on vacation and that the NJC may also be on vacation.So, I needed to do a letter to the NJC on the need to extend or approve the appointment of the acting CJ in my state. I went there on the two days in daytime; and see Nigerians, they are already imputing another meaning to the visits.”
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