Peterside, had mounted a legal challenge against the declaration of Wike as the winner. He initially got a reprieve when the Election Petitions Tribunal and Court of Appeal deemed the election that produced Wike as dodgy.
But in a shocking twist, the Supreme Court overturned the judgments of both lower courts, a development that sparked a blast of public criticism. Notably, there are widespread allegations that the Supreme Court may have been compromised to declare Wike as validly elected despite glaring evidence of widespread violence and the non-use of card reader machines during the election.
The allegation grew louder when Peterside openly claimed that Wike had met secretly with some of the judges that heard the matter.
“Credible information confirmed that Nyesom Wike had earlier confessed to some persons of having met one of the Justices of the Supreme Court in Mbaise during an important burial ceremony, another at Owerri in a hotel and yet others in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively,” Peterside had said. “These Justices were on the panel that decided the matter in Wike’s favour.”
Our sources now assert that the burial ceremony in Mbaise was of no less a personality than Ugoeze Bernadette Nzenwa, mother of Justice Mary Odili, a Supreme Court Justice and wife of Dr. Peter Odili, the former governor of Rivers State. Wike has publicly acknowledged Dr. Odili as his adviser during the legal battles.
Recounted one of our sources, "At the funeral, Wike met Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta, one of the apex court Justices. It was most convenient for both of them as it looked like a coincidence like they ran into each other at the funeral service. The funeral was a perfect cover. I can also confirm that he met Justice John Inyang Okoro, another Supreme Court Justice in Owerri, Imo State. The meeting with Okoro was facilitated and arranged by Peter Odili through his wife, Justice Mary Odili. Meetings with Supreme Court Justices were arranged within and outside Nigeria.”
A bigger source of suspicion and questions about the fidelity of the Supreme Court judgment is the role of Justice Mary Odili in the weeks leading to the judgment. At a special thanksgiving service to celebrate the decision of the Supreme Court, Governor Wike told the congregation that that Dr. Peter Odili was his adviser during the legal battle. “Let me thank Dr. Peter Odili. He will call me at midnight to tell me what to do. He will say: ‘go to so so place’. I took all his advice and here we are today,” Wike told the crowd at the service. Wike's words have provoked questions on what kind of advice Odili, a medical doctor, could be offering in purely a legal matter that was before the apex court. Was Odili getting vital tips that swung the case in Wike's favour from his wife, who is in the Supreme Court? Who were the people Odili told Wike to see when the matter was before the Supreme Court? Questions have continued to swirl around the role played by Justice Mary Odili. A source familiar with the matter said suspicions of underhand dealings are strengthened by Wike's meeting with Justice Ngwuta at a funeral service organized by the Odilis.
"Could it be that attending the service and meeting with Justice Ngwuta was one of the pieces of advice the Odilis gave to Wike?” asked the source.
It’s widely documented that Wike made attempts to meet the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN) Mahmud Mohammed, but was openly rebuffed. On account of that attempt, the CJN publicly warned all governors with pending election cases not to come near him. Our sources maintained that while Wike failed with the CJN, he succeeded with some other Justices in the Supreme Court. His success was mainly attributed the Odilis.
After the meeting in Mbaise, sources said, Justice Ngwuta was persuaded to contribute to the plan to ensure that the apex court returned Wike as governor. With him and Mrs. Odili pulling the strings, it was not difficult to get the buy-in of the other judges.
It is for this reason that the decision of the Supreme Court on the Rivers State Governorship Election is viewed as a product of compromise, not that of justice, and a legalisation of poll robbery.
On the issue of violence, legal analysts are wont to refer to an earlier Supreme Court judgment on the relocation of the election tribunal from Port Harcourt to Abuja. The Supreme Court had ruled in favour of moving the tribunal to Abuja because there was violence before, during and after the elections in Rivers State.
But in a curious twist, the same court, in the governorship election judgment, said the APC and its candidate, Peterside, did not provide evidence of violence in Rivers State.
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