PDP, Governor Wike to appeal tribunal judgment

(Nigeria) The Peoples  Democratic  Party, PDP, and the  Rivers State Governor, Mr Nyesom Wike will appeal the judgment  of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal  which ordered fresh governorship  election  on the basis of the  card reader accreditation  during  the  election. 
The tribunal had earlier nullified the election of Wike.
Addressing  journalists  after the  judgment  delivered  by Justice  Suleiman Ambrosa of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal,  counsel  to  the  PDP, Chief Chris Uche, SAN,  said  that  Governor Wike  remains governor  until  the appeal processes are exhausted. 
He said  the nature of the judgment  delivered  by  Justice  Ambrosa-led Tribunal  makes appeal vital as the new position  adopted  by  the  tribunal  must be tested in the  interest of justice. 
Uche noted  that  the  tribunal's  reliance  on  card reader accreditation to nullify  the governorship  election when  evidence  was led by  both the respondents  and  the petitioners that both card reader and manual  accreditation  were used for the election  requires testing  at the Court of Appeal. 
He noted that  it was shocking  that less than 24 hours after lawyers on all sides submitted nine written addresses  and  documents,  the Tribunal  sent notice  that judgment would  be  delivered on  Saturday morning. 
Uche said that  the  tribunal  was aware that  the  Supreme  Court  judgment on the jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal  outside  of  Rivers  State  would  be  delivered  on Tuesday.  He said  that  the tribunal  had seven days to deliver  its  judgment,  but chose to  do  so in less than  two days.
In its judgment,  Justice  Ambrosa held that  the  card reader accreditation  was vital to the election  and the votes recorded. He said that the press statement issued  by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC  on the matter supercedes the Electoral  Act  as the card reader was a new introduction  that was aimed to promote  transparency. 
He said  on the balance of probability,  he is inclined  to  believe the petitioner witnesses ahead of the witnesses of the respondents. 
The tribunal  said that the  testimonies  of the 56 witnesses  called by  the  petitioner were  enough to cover the entire state of 5972 polling  units  and points. 
Justice Ambrosa said that the  documents  tendered by  APC which the party  failed to  lead evidence in court were not dumped  on  it.
He however,  said that the documents  tendered  by  the  respondents were dumped on  it and it would  not attach weight to them.