The Independent National Electoral Commission says no judgement is barring the APC from contesting in the Bayelsa governorship election.
INEC’s Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, made the clarification on Friday. Okoye said that the judgement of the Federal High Court in Yenagoa did not stop the APC from participating in the election. He confirmed that the poll would go on as planned by the commission. Okoye explained that the court order said INEC should not put the name of any APC candidate.
Okoye said: “The APC is on the ballot paper because it has already been printed and there is no court order or restraining order saying that INEC should not have the APC as a political party on the ballot.
“What the order said is that we should not put the plaintiff or the candidate that his name was submitted on the ballot, what we have on the ballot papers are the logos of the various political parties.”
Okoye said that it is the party that is contesting in the election. He, however, noted that at the stage of declaration and return, that’s when the candidate nominated will now be considered.
Lyon nullified
In an order issued on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo nullified Lyon’s nomination as APC’s flag bearer in the election. The court said he failed to field a qualified deputy governorship candidate in the election.
The court also declared that the APC didn’t follow constitutional guidelines in its primaries. Hence the party has no candidate for the November 16th election in the state.
One of the APC aspirants, Senator Heineken Lopkobiri had earlier approached the court asking it to declare him, and not Lyon, the authentic candidate of the APC.
Meanwhile, the Appeal Court in Bayelsa State on Friday ordered INEC to recognise Lyon as the Candidate of the APC.
