The South-South Youth Initiative (SSYI) has rejected the dismissal of the petition of Labour Party (LP) and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Beatrice Itubo, by the State Election Petitions Tribunal.
Recall that the three-man tribunal, which is sitting in Abuja, had on Monday, dismissed the petition of the LP and Itubo for lack of merit.
It also dismissed the petitions filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the African Peoples Movement (APM) as well as their governorship candidates, Tonye Cole and Innocent Ekwu, respectively, on same grounds of lack of merit.
Speaking on a radio programme monitored in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, SSYI President, Saviour Oscar Imeade, said the dismissal of LP’s petition was against the expectation of Nigerians.
Imeade said: “The dismissal of Labour Party’s petition and other political parties’ petitions at the Tribunal was not what Nigerians were expecting.
“We were hoping that for the first time the judiciary will come out on its own and set the record, with which Nigerians can say, we now have hope in the judiciary.”
The prominent youth leader called on the judiciary to indeed prove that it was the last hope of ordinary Nigerians.
He said: “I want to call on the leadership of the Nigerian judiciary, the executive and that of the legislature, to see how they can redeem the hope of Nigerians in their activities and service delivery.”
