Follow Us on Google
Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday, ordered the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to submit the name of Minister of Niger Delta, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, as the authentic governorship candidate of the party in the March 2 election.
The court also ordered the NWC of APC to forward the list of candidates as submitted by Godwin Etim John to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court also affirmed the judgement of an Abuja high court declaring Godwin Etim John as the authentic state chairman of the APC.
The high court in Abuja, presided over by Justice A.O. Musa, had, on December 13, 2018, declared Godwin Etim John the authentic chairman of the APC in the state.
In a two-hour ruling delivered by Hon. Justice Simon A. Amobeda, the court ordered that, “INEC should only receive and accept the names and candidates for the 2019 elections that emerged from the lawful executive led by Godwin Etim John, which produced Pastor Usani Usani.”
It also ordered that persons parading themselves as the executive members of the APC in Cross River State should forthwith cease and that the lawful executive of the APC in Cross River State remains that led by Etim John.
Speaking with newsmen on the judgement, counsel to the claimants, Ayei Okpa, explained that “the judgment clearly is in support of the rule of law, as it also supports the yearnings of the common man.”
He added that once a judgement is delivered in a court of law, everyone affected is supposed and ought to comply with the said judgement and “that is what this court today has confirmed.”
Reacting, the spokesman for the Senator John Owna-Enoh Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dan Amor, described the ruling as an unnecessary distraction, in view of the fact that there is a pending appeal suit on the matter about the authentic candidate of the party. Amor recalled that the claimant, Usani, had asked an Abuja high court sitting in Apo, FCT, to declare him the governorship candidate of the APC in the state. He added that his case was summarily dismissed by the court presided over by Justice Adeniyi on January 7, 2019, on the ground that Usani’s case was full of contradictory claims and forgeries.
He said the court further ruled that Usani’s affidavit in support of the originating summons was unreliable just as he (Usani) was not found to be an aspirant and his case not justiceable going by the laws of the country.
Justice Adeniyi further ruled that the Etim John-supervised primary was illegal and contrary to the party’s constitution and guidelines for primaries.
The court maintained that the primary that produced Owan-Enoh as candidate of the party was a direct primary conducted by the NWC of the party as stipulated by the party’s constitution, as against the Etim John’s primary conducted by a state faction.
According to him, the purported judgement delivered yesterday by the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar was an unnecessary distraction.
