Aspirant asks court to void APC gov primaries – TheNigerialawyer

A governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Preye Aganaba, has asked the court
to void the APC primaries held on September 4 and which produced
Chief David Lyon as the flag bearer of the party.

The Governor Mala Mai Buni-led electoral committee had declared
Lyon winner of the direct primaries stating that he polled 42, 138
votes.

But Aganaba had described Lyon’s victory as a political hoax and
warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to
distance itself from the exercise, while praying the National
Working Committee (NWC) of the APC to reject the result.

Dissatisfied with the handling of his complaints by Mr Shuiabu
Aruwa-led Appeal Committee, Aganaba dragged the APC, Lyon and INEC
to court as defendants in a suit he personally filed on September
12.

The aspirant urged the court to make a declaration that the
primaries scheduled for September 4 across the 105 wards in the
eight local government areas of the state did not take place.

He also asked the court to make a declaration that since there
were no primaries, the declaration of results that produced David
Lyon as the candidate of the party was illegal, unconstitutional,
null and void and of no effect.

The aspirant further demanded an order setting aside the results
of the APC primary election, which returned Lyon as the candidate
of the party for November 16 election.

He further asked the court to make an order “restraining the APC
from presenting Lyon or submitting his name to INEC as candidate of
the APC.”

Other reliefs are: “An order restraining INEC from receiving,
acting on, publishing or listing the name of Lyon as the
governorship candidate of APC.

“An order restraining Lyon from parading himself as or holding
himself out as the candidate of the APC in the forthcoming Bayelsa
State governorship election.”

Speaking at the court premises after filing the suit, Aganaba
said he stood on his earlier statement that the APC primary
election in Bayelsa was a mockery of democracy.

He said: “There was no primary election in Bayelsa and since
there was no primary poll, there won’t be a candidate. It is only a
primary election that produces a candidate for an election. And if
anybody is parading himself as a candidate without a primary poll,
the person is simply wasting his time.

“We have made our point clear but since they failed to address
our complaints that there were no primaries in Bayelsa, we have
decided to approach the court to interpret to us whether what
happened in Bayelsa could qualify for a primary of a political
party.”

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