APC will participate in Bayelsa election despite court ruling, INEC confirms

*Says No judgement stopping APC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the
All Progressives Congress (APC) will participate in the Bayelsa
governorship election.

Festus Okoye, commissioner of INEC voter education and
publicity, told TheCable the party’s name is among those to be
featured on the ballot papers on Saturday.

He said the court disqualified the party’s candidates from the
election but that it did not rule that the party will not be
featured in the ballot papers already printed.

“We do not have any court judgment that said the APC should not
be on the ballot paper, what the court said is that the party does
not have a candidate,” he told TheCable on Friday.

“Where we are currently is that we have 45 political parties on
the ballot papers and the APC is also on the ballot. Their votes
will be counted as well.

“It is only after we collate the votes from the various
registration areas up to the state level that the declaration will
be made and that is when candidates will be revealed.”

Asked if votes cast for the APC in the election will be
invalidated since the court sacked its recognised candidate, Okoye
said INEC “has not gotten to that stage yet”, adding that ”this
will be decided after the voting process”.

The commission earlier recognised David Lyon as the APC
governorship candidate in the election after he was declared winner
in the party’s primary poll.

But a federal high court sitting in Abuja disqualified Lyon and
ruled that the APC does not have a candidate in the election after
its deputy governorship candidate was discovered to have submitted
false academic information.

Another court in Bayelsa also sacked him while ruling on a
separate suit filed by Heineken Lokpobiri. It held that the party
did not conduct a credible primary election.

The ruling, however, came about 48 hours to the poll, long after
INEC had printed ballot papers for the exercise taking place on
Saturday.