A Bayelsa State High Court, sitting in Yenagoa, has nullified the gubernatorial primaries of the All progressives Congress (APC) in the State, barely 48 hours to the poll date.
Justice Jane Inyang ruled that the party has no validly nominated gubernatorial candidate for the Saturday, November 16, 2019, governorship election in the state.
The court’s ruling arose from the suit by one of the aspirants, Senator Heineken Lokpobri, which challenged the primary election, alleging that no proper primaries took place and names were simply written an forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Inyang held that the primary election conducted by the APC violated the party’s rules and constitution and therefore a nullity in the eyes of the law and restrained INEC from recognising any of the aspirants that participated in the exercise.
Reacting to the judgment, Chairman of Bayelsa chapter of APC, Mr. Jothan Amos, said that the party is optimistic of overcoming the setback before Saturday’s poll.
Amos reportedly said that the party has set in motion the legal process of appeal and was in the process of obtaining a stay of execution pending the determination of the appeal.
He assured party followers that the APC was seeking judicial review of the judgment and urged them to remain calm.
And as Amos had predicted, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, later disclosed that the Court of Appeal in Abuja has granted stay of execution of the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court nullifying the primaries of the APC ahead of the Saturday election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the election will go on despite the disqualification of the APC candidate.
“The court did not say INEC should stop the election”, said Sarian Dangosu, INEC publicity secretary in Bayelsa.
“The court only said those who do not have candidates will be disallowed therefore, the other 43 candidates will go to the polls,” she noted.