A senior lawyer and former President of Aka Ikenga and a delegate to the Centenary Conference of Nigeria 2014, Chief Goddy Uwazurike has ruled out the All Progressives Congress (APC) from a fresh election in Bayelsa State, if the nullification of the victory of Governor Douye Diri is upheld by the Supreme Court.
Chief Uwazurike made the assertion, on Monday, while reacting to the tribunal judgement, which upheld the petition filed by the Advance National Democratic Party (ANDP) and ordered the INEC to conduct a fresh election in Bayelsa within 90 days.
The ANDP had asked the tribunal to cancel the election because it was excluded from the November 16, 2019, governorship poll.
Uwazurike said, ”It’s elementary law that an election that excludes a party or omits the logo of a party cannot stand. A free and fair election means one in which the candidates are presented to the electorate for the voters to choose from.
“Any omission means that the correct results are not the one presented by INEC. It means that some parties have been unlawfully excluded. What is not right, is not right. The only challenge is whether it is a pre-election matter or post election. It’s irrelevant because the correct answer is that a party has been unlawfully excluded.”
The senior lawyer described the tribunal decision as ”a correct judgement” even if sad, but added that an appeal court might have a contrary view on technical grounds.
”The properly qualified candidates, excluding APC, will slug it out. Remember that APC has been declared as having no candidates.
”Edo and Ondo will go the same way if any party is excluded as the Court of Appeal has nullified the de registration of parties by INEC. So the proper thing for INEC to do today is to list all registered parties for elections,” he stressed.
