The lives of some witnesses have been purportedly threatened in the River state governorship election tribunal sitting in Abuja.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the April 11, 2015 governorship election in Rivers State, Dakuku Peterside, alleges that witnesses who testified on his behalf are receiving threats to their life.
Dakuku, who is challenging the election of Governor Nyesom Wike, has so far called 22 witnesses out of the 200 expected to be brought to the tribunal.
However, on Saturday, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), lawyer for Peterside, complained of the alleged threats received by their witnesses.
He said, “Those, who have appeared before the tribunal to testify, are warned not to return to Port-Harcourt.
“Some of those we brought today have received calls on phone, threatening to deal with them. A situation where lawyers and witnesses are being threatened will threaten justice. We want the court to be firm on this.”
In response, Wike’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala(SAN), denied knowing anything aabout the threats, adding that it could be part of the petitioners’ plan to have an excuse for not being able to call all their proposed witnesses.
“My people say, when a woman cannot deliver, she will say it is because of the spell her in-laws cast on her,” Uche said.
Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Mohammed Ambrosa, advised the recipient of such threat messages to report them to security agencies.
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