THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday said it would go ahead with tomorrow’s gubernatorial primaries in Bayelsa State irrespective of the judicial process initiated by Governor Timipre Sylva who has been excluded from the contest.
The party said its action was based on what it claimed were stipulations in the Electoral Act that restrict the intervention of the courts in the conduct of scheduled party primaries.
Ahead of tomorrow’s primaries, Yenagoa and most parts of the state were under a heavy security cordon. Detachments of anti-riot policemen were deployed around the state and in some cases
within two hundred metres of each other. The police deployments were reinforced with patrolling operatives of the Joint Task Force, JTF, who have taken to regular patrol around the state.
Meanwhile, the camp of the embattled governor was, yesterday, looking forward to a judicial remedy to salvage the political fortunes of the governor. Associates of the governor were also critical of the party’s claim of ignorance of the court order as they flayed what one described as the party’s selective implementation of court orders.
An associate of the governor said cynically last night: “You can see that even when nobody had seen the court order removing Nwodo as Chairman during the national convention they quickly asked Nwodo to step aside but now when a court order is pasted on its offices they claim ignorance.”
Pledging its determination to proceed with the primaries the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali said: ‘’In taking the decision to go ahead with the gubernatorial primary elections as scheduled, the party wishes to draw the attention of our members and the general public to the provisions of section 87 (10) of the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, which provides that, “nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general elections under this Act pending the determination of any suit.
Submission
of names
“We also wish to refer to section 31 (1) of the same Electoral Act which limits the time within which a political party must submit names of its candidates to INEC, to not later than 60 days, to the date of elections.
‘’The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, therefore, wishes to make it abundantly clear that our decision to continue with our scheduled primary elections in Bayelsa State is clearly in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
Further to our earlier statement issued on November 16, 2011, on the legal situation of the forthcoming primaries in Bayelsa State, we wish to restate that no Court has issued any injunction restraining us from going ahead with our gubernatorial primaries fixed for Saturday, November 19, 2011. This clarification has become necessary in view of the conflicting and misleading publications in various national newspapers purporting that a court in Abuja has stopped the exercise.”
Alkali also noted the party’s readiness to defend itself before the courts saying ‘’We have however assembled our legal team to argue our position in any competent court of law should we be formally and validly invited to do so.”
The party’s National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke at a separate interaction with newsmen also reiterated the party’s determination to defend itself before the courts even as he flayed Governor Sylva for not exhausting the internal mechanism of the party before resorting to the courts.
We’ll respond to the court process —Oke
Oke said: “We are aware that the Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva has gone to court as reported in the newspapers of today. Without doubt and prejudice, it is within his constitutional right to ventilate his grievances in a court of law, especially as now guaranteed by the Electoral Act. As a senior member of the PDP, we had expected him to explore the option of seeking redress within the party before going to the court. We will surely respond to the court processes and justify the stand of the party in this matter on the return date of November 22, 2011.”
“Our position is the provision of section 31 of the Electoral Act which limits the time within which the party could submit its candidate’s name for the election to not later than 60 days to the date of the election. It is feared that a further delay may expose the party to the risk of not being able to nominate its candidate through the primary election as prescribed by the 2010 Electoral Act as amended. I want to trust that before the end of Thursday that the party would have concluded consultation and come out with a clear attitude on the pending suit on the Bayelsa state governorship primary election.
“The process of nomination is not mere holding of a governorship primary election. We should not lose sight of the position that participants may appeal and from there to the National Executive Committee, NEC, if dissatisfied. Furthermore, successful aspirant needs time to complete his nomination form, depose his affidavit, and after which the National Chairman and the National Secretary will convey his name in the prescribed form to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. All these require time.
Notwithstanding, PDP believes in the rule of law. We have assembled a legal team to appear in court on the return date to tell our own side of the story.”
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