Court to rule on Eyiboh’s candidature
The current
chairman of the house committee on information, Eseme Eyiboh, will know
his fate on May 19 as the federal high court in Abuja, will deliver its
ruling on whether or not he was the qualified candidate to represent
the Eket Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom at the concluded House of
Representatives elections.
Mr Eyiboh wants the
court to set aside the primary election, which was held in his
constituency on January 28, 2011, claiming that the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) did not conduct any election before forwarding the name of
Bassy Dan Abia to the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC).
According to Mr
Eyiboh, the headquarters of his constituency is Eket and under the
party’s constitution the primaries must hold at the headquarters. He
said that he contested the initial primary election to represent the
Eket/Ibeno/Esit/Onna federal constituency in the 2011 general
elections.
“The primaries were
initially scheduled for 7th January, 2011 at the Eket Township stadium
but were cancelled due to violence and irregularities. The violence
claimed lives of two delegates.” Mr Eyiboh said.
Mr Eyiboh argued
that the party had violated its Constitution and the Electoral Act by
conducting the re-run election in Uyo instead of Eket, which is the
headquarters of Eket Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom.
Wole Olanipekun,
counsel to Mr Eyiboh said majority of the delegates at the primary
election who converged on Eket township stadium unanimously endorsed Mr
Eyiboh as their candidate in the just-concluded election, and urged the
court to hold that Mr Eyiboh was the rightful candidate.
Law broken
Specifically, Mr
Olanipekun said Article 17(2)(b) of the PDP constitution provided that
the primary election to the House of Representatives shall be conducted
at the constituency headquarters.
“My Lord, the
counsel to PDP in their statement of defence has said that the election
was conducted in Uyo on the basis of convenience. The Electoral Act has
said that it is mandatory to conduct party primaries to select
candidates to contest National Assembly Seat in the Headquarters of
Federal Constituents. My Lord, based on this reckless violation of the
Electoral Act, my client is automatically qualify by the provision of
the law to assume that seat in the House of Representatives,” he added.
Mr Olanipekun
submitted that the defence and counter affidavit of the counsel to Mr
Dan-Abia, Goddy Uche was inconsequential, as according to him, Dan-Abia
was not the person who violated the Electoral Act to conduct the
election in a different location.
Mr Uche, counsel to
Mr Dan-Abia, however, submitted that the suit was not properly filed
before the court, adding that his client had already been declared
winner in the April general election.
Mr Uche said that
the main applicant to the suit (Mr Eyiboh) and all the delegates were
at the venue of the primaries in Uyo Township Stadium.
A.O. Yinka, counsel
to the PDP aligned himself with all the submissions raised by Mr Uche
in defence of Mr Dan-Abia except on the call for the transfer of the
case to the Akwa Ibom Federal High Court.
Mr Yinka argued
that the Court as presently constituted had the jurisdiction to
entertain the suit, adding that all the parties except the third
respondent (Dan-Abia) had offices in Abuja.
Mr Eyiboh in the
supporting affidavit to his motion said that all the three contestants
agreed to the new date, but by the guide line of INEC, the primaries,
including the re-run, ought to hold on or before January 15, 2011. He
stressed that on account of the said failed earlier attempt to hold the
primaries, the party eventually fixed 28th January, 2011, (12 Days
after the deadline fixed by INEC for primaries).
He also said that
for the non-statutory/automatic delegates numbering about 90 for the
constituency, no congresses were held to elect them. They were single
handedly appointed.
Mr Eyiboh added
that on the January 28 date fixed for the re-run of the primary
election, the panel appointed by the party from Abuja never came to the
constituency, but that he was surprised to hear that election had been
conducted there and Dan-Abia’s name was published as a candidate.
According to him,
he believed that the INEC did not monitor any primaries regarding Eket
federal constituency, and that he was confident that if the delegates
who waited with him at Eket township stadium had participated in the
primaries, he would have won by an overwhelming majority.
The presiding
judge, Abdul Kafarati, gave the May 19 date after counsel to the
parties had argued on all the motions that were earlier consolidated by
the court.
