A Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has nullified the governorship primaries that produced David Lyon as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 poll.
Justice Jane Inyang ruled on Thursday that the primaries were conducted arbitrarily outside the rules of the party.
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Heineken Lokpobiri filed the suit to challenge the conduct of the governorship primaries which held on September 4.
He claimed that he won the primaries using direct primary mode.
Those who participated in the primaries include Lokpobiri, Lyon, Aganaba Steven, Ebitimi Amgbare, Diseye Poweigha, and Ongoebi Etebu.
A former Cross River resident electoral commissioner, Briyai Frankland, was disqualified.
Justice Inyang restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from including Lyon as APC’s candidate in the governorship election.
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The judge said that according to APC guidelines for the conduct of the primaries, the results were expected to be declared by the returning officer for the pre-election, Governor Mai Kala Buni of Yobe, and not Emmanuel Ochega, secretary of the election committee.
Inyang also held that the APC violated its own rules in the composition of the election panel when it constituted a one-member committee and not seven members as stipulated in the party rules.
