Bayelsa APC Tussle: Party Risks Repeating Rivers, Zamfara Scenario
David Lyon
Alex Enumah in Abuja
If utmost caution is not observed, the All Progressives Congress (APC) risks experiencing the fate that befell the party in Rivers and Zamfara States in the last general election.
At the moment, Bayelsa State APC is embroiled in numerous legal battles over the alleged shoddy manner the primary election for the November 16, 2019 governorship election was conducted.
The matter is made worse by the alleged continued evasion of court processes by the APC governorship candidate in the state, Hon. David Lyon and his deputy, Degi Biobarakuma.
An aggrieved stakeholder in the party, Peter Ozobo had dragged Lyon and Biobarakuma to the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, alleging a default in the conduct of the primaries that produced them.
In the suit with reference number: FHC/ABJ/CS/1095/2019, Ozobo and others were seeking the disqualification of the candidate, claiming that they did not hold direct primary elections at the wards in the state and that a majority of the party members were excluded from voting in the election.
They also alleged that results were written in wards where primaries did not hold.
In addition, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) gubernatorial candidate and his deputy, Senator Duoye Diri and Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, in another suit also sought the leave of the court to disqualify the APC candidate for being wrongfully nominated by his party.
Counsel to the PDP, F.N Nwosu, claimed that the APC governorship candidate has remained evasive by dodging court bailiff, who arrived Yenogoa, the state capital to serve him and his deputy with court processes in the two suits.
According to Nwosu, the bailiff, who had gone to Yenagoa to serve the respondents with the process was directed back to Abuja to meet them at the Nicon Luxury Hotel on Thursday, from where he was then directed to the Abuja home of the Minister of Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva.
At the end of the day, the bailiff was asked to go back to Yenagoa and wait for them, as they could not receive court processes in Abuja.
It would be recalled that similar abuse and disregard of court processes denied the APC from fielding candidates in Rivers state in the last election and made it to forfeit Zamfara to PDP in the same manner.
