A Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa yesterday nullified the September 4 governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that produced David Lyon as the governorship candidate for the November 16 election in Bayelsa State.
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Jane Inyang, the presiding judge, in a judgment on the suit filed by one of the aspirants, Heineken Lokpobiri challenging the outcome of the governorship primary, ruled that the primary was conducted without due regard to the rules of the party.
Inyang said that since the process was conducted in violation of the party’s constitution and guidelines for the conduct of governorship primary, none of the aspirants should be fielded as the party’s candidate in this Saturday’s election.
She gave an order restraining the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) from fielding Lyon as the party’s candidate in the election, noting that by the guidelines for the conduct of the 2019 governorship primaries, the results were expected to be declared by the returning officer for the election, Mai Kala Buni, governor of Yobe State and not Emmanuel Ochega, secretary of the election committee.
According to the trial judge, the APC also violated its own rules in the composition of the election panel, saying that the party constituted an 11-member election committee instead of seven.
“It has been established by judicial authorities and several judgments that political parties are bound by their own rules; the committee that conducted the primary threw caution to the winds and it is my ruling that the primaries stands nullified,” she said.
“The result announced by Senator Emmanuel Ochega is not valid as he is not the returning officer for the election, and I make an order restraining INEC from recognising any of the aspirants that participated in the said primaries,” she further said.
Lokpobiri had approached the court, challenging the emergence of Lyon as the APC governorship candidate in the state; listed as respondents in the case are the APC, Lyon and INEC.
Lokpobiri had claimed that he won the governorship primary election conducted by the APC using the direct primary mode which was also contested by Aganaba Steven, Ebitimi Amgbare, Diseye Poweigha and Ongoebi Etebu.
Speaking to newsmen after the court judgment, counsel to Lokpobiri, Fitzgerald Olorogun said he expected the APC to appeal the judgment while describing the nullification of the primary election as strange since it was not one of their prayers.
