The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, yesterday, expunged some paragraphs of the petition that led to the annulment of the April 11  governorship election that brought Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to power.

In a judgment it delivered, a three-man panel of Justices of the Appeal Court headed by Justice Datti Yahaya, struck out portions of the petition alleging that security agents were used to rig the election in favour of Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The decision of the appellate court followed an interlocutory appeal that was lodged before it by the APC and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside.

Both APC and Peterside had gone before the court to challenge the ruling of the previous chairman of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal panel, Justice Muazu Pindiga, which deleted paragraphs of the petition containing criminal allegations against unnamed security operatives.

Justice Pindiga, who was subsequently removed from presiding over the petition by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, based his decision on the fact that the petitioners failed to join the said security agents and other persons it said participated in the alleged electoral fraud as parties to the suit.

Among those that the APC alleged masterminded the rigging of election in Rivers State included wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience.

Credit: Vanguard