Supreme Court sacks Celestine Omehia as Rivers State governor

Nigeria's Supreme Court on Thursday voided the election of Governor Celestine Omehia of oil-rich Rivers State and ordered that his main challenger in the ruling party be sworn in immediately.

Celestine Omehia ran for governor at the last minute
Rotimi Amaechi, the former speaker of the state House of Assembly, had asked the country's highest court to annul Omehia's election on the grounds that he was the rightful candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 14 governorship poll.

"I declare the appellant (Amaechi) the one entitled to be on the governorship seat of Rivers state," Justice Iyorcha Katsina-Ala said in a unanimous decision of seven judges.

"It is my view that the candidate of PDP at the election was the appellant. His name was unlawfully removed. In the eyes of the law, he remains the candidate and this court must treat him as such," he said.

The court said Amaechi should be sworn in immediately.

Amaechi won the party's primaries but his name was substituted with Omehia's at the last minute ahead of the poll, prompting the former speaker to challenge the action in court. He had earlier lost at the appeal court.

Omehia became the fourth state governor to be removed by the courts following petitions by aggrieved candidates and opponents against their elections.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua on Thursday ordered compliance with the Supreme court ruling "in keeping with his administration's avowed commitment to upholding the rule of law," his spokesman Segun Adeniyi said in a statement.

He said the president also directed that Amaechi should be sworn in immediately.

The opposition Action Congress has hailed the court ruling, describing the PDP as a lawless party.

"For the umpteenth time, the judiciary has lived up to its billing as the last hope of the ordinary man and the bastion of Nigeria's democracy," it added.

The April vote in Nigeria was generally flawed and condemned by the opposition, rights groups, media and foreign observers, including the EU, as falling short of international standards.

Many vote-related cases are still pending in courts.