….Refuses to disqualify PDP gov candidate
Jalingo—A Federal High Court, sitting in Jalingo, yesterday, nullified the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Taraba State, that produced Emmanuel Bwacha as the candidate of the party.
An aggrieved aspirant, David Kente, had sued the party over the recognition of Bwacha as candidate of APC.
The presiding Judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, in his ruling, directed that a fresh governorship primary election be conducted within 14 days.
The court also ordered Bwacha to stop parading himself as the governorship candidate of the APC.
The Judge also told the APC to adhere strictly to the provisions of the new electoral act in the conduct of a fresh primary.
Reacting to the ruling, the counsel to Bwacha, Festus Idepefor, said he would reach out to his client on the next line of action.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Jalingo, has dismissed a suit seeking the disqualification of the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Kefas Agbu.
An aggrieved aspirant who lost during the PDP governorship primary election, Jerome Nyameh, had dragged the party, its candidate and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to court challenging the outcome of the May 25 primaries.
He had prayed the court to disqualify Agbu, claiming he was ineligible to participate over late purchase of the party’s form among others.
The presiding Judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, in his ruling, said the plaintiff failed to prove his case before the court.
The matter was struck out including that of another aspirant, Hilkiah Mafindi, who joined the suit for lack of merit.
Reacting to the ruling, lead counsel to the plaintiff, Pius D. Pius, said there was still room for an appeal.
According to him: “It is a journey that starts here. There are two more rivers to cross so we are going on appeal.”
The lead counsel to the PDP, Musa Tende, who also spoke, urged all aggrieved aspirants to join forces with the candidate of the party to ensure victory at the poll.
Credit: THE VANGUARD .
