A
gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in
Cross River State, Mr. Emmanuel Ibeshi, has filed a N2billion suit before a
Federal High Court in Abuja against his disqualification from participating in
the party’s governorship primary, which held in the state on September 29.
In the suit
marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1268/2018, the plaintiff also joined PDP, Governor Benedict
Ayade, who emerged as the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the disputed
primary ahead of the 2019 election, and Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) as defendants.
This is just
as Nigerians have been urged to elect quality leadership with necessary human
and intellectual capacity to drive the nation out of its current socio-economic
and political crises come 2019.
In a
statement, national President and Global Coordinator of Women and Youth
Supports for Atiku, ‘WAYS 4 Atiku,’ Princess Kemi Adesanya-Eboda, said Nigeria
deserves quality leader like the former Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku,
to bring peace, unity and equitable development to the country.
While
arguing that Atiku’s political and business background represent the kind of
quality leader the country desperately needs to reposition its economy,
Adesanya-Eboda declared: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flag
bearer has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions,
and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.”
She also
described Atiku as a consummate humanist who has been tested and trusted and
proven to have the capacity, competence and resilience to drive Nigeria out of
its present predicament.
According to
her, Atiku has demonstrated those feats, both as a former vice president and
successful private businessman with chains of businesses catering to the needs
of many compatriots in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, that makes him
best suited to reform the nation’s economy.
Nigerians,
she stressed, should focus solely on competence, capacity and character in
deciding who becomes president in 2019, adding, “Atiku’s presidency in 2019,
will be for an all-inclusive government that will unite the country and bring
the citizenry out of penury through mass employment, wealth creation and
genuine restructuring.”
In his suit,
Ibeshi, among other prayers, asked the court for an order reversing his
disqualification and the nullification of the September 29 primary to pave the
way for a fresh primary in which he should be allowed to participate. He sought
an order restraining INEC from accepting Ayade as the party’s gubernatorial
candidate in the state. The plaintiff also prayed to be awarded a total of
N2.194billion as damages and other costs he claimed to have incurred in pursuit
of his ambition on the platform of the party.
In his
statement of claim accompanying his writ of summons, the plaintiff said he
spent huge sums of money preparatory for the primary, garnered support from
across the state, and was coasting to victory before he was unjustly
disqualified.
He said he
procured and submitted his nomination forms along with three other aspirants to
PDP, adding that the party then set up a Zonal Screening Committee to evaluate
the eligibility of each of the aspirants. He explained that the Zonal Screening
Committee sat in Port Harcourt and screened him and other aspirants of the
party from all states in the South-South geo-political zone, saying, “the
screening exercise was conducted on September 22, 2018. It was at this
screening exercise that the first signs of collusion between the defendants to
exclude the plaintiff from the contest manifested. The Screening Committee
managed to disqualify all other aspirants that filed nomination forms to
contest against the second defendant (Ayade), leaving only the second defendant
as the sole candidate for the party primaries for the governorship ticket.
“This
outcome was actively canvassed by the second defendant who complained publicly
and bitterly that he was the only sitting governor of the first defendant in
the South-South Zone, who was being challenged for the party ticket, with all
other governors being returned unopposed.”
The reason
provided by the Zonal Screening Committee for the disqualification of the
plaintiff was that he did not attach his passport photograph to his party
membership card.
He also
noted, “Otherwise, the plaintiff was unblemished and impeccably qualified to
contest for the office of governor under the Constitution of Nigeria. The
excuse given by the Zonal Screening Committee is untenable under the Electoral
Act as the placement of passport photograph on the party membership card is not
a requirement for qualification to contest the election under the relevant statutes.”
The
plaintiff, through his counsel, Godwin Adole, therefore, sought, among other
prayers, a declaration that PDP, having collected huge sums of money from him
as the cost of nomination forms and putting him to serious expenses campaigning
for support from among party members, could not have validly excluded him from
the primary.
He also
sought another declaration that the purported emergence of Ayade as PDP’s
gubernatorial candidate “from the very unconstitutional process that excluded
him was illegal and void under the law.”
He,
therefore, sought an order nullifying the primary process as it relates to the
state, saying it was unconstitutional therefore null and void.”
He sought an
order setting aside the disqualification of the plaintiff by the first
defendant, and for the proper conduct of the party primary elections by the
first defendant for the governorship ticket of the party in Cross River State,
which primary election shall be contested between the second defendant and the
plaintiff.”
He also
sought an order restraining INEC from accepting or acting on the submission of
Ayade’s name by PDP as governorship candidate for Cross River State for the
2019 general elections.
In the
alternative, he sought N1billion against the defendants and in his favour for
breach of his “fundamental right to fair hearing.”
He sought
another sum of N194million being the cost of nomination forms and campaign
expenses incurred by him prior to his disqualification from the primary.
He also
sought the sum of N500million as general damages against the defendants for
breach of contractual obligation, and another sum of N500million against Ayade
“for inducing and instigating the first defendant to breach its legal and
contractual obligations to the plaintiff by pressuring the first defendant to
disqualify the plaintiff from participation in party primaries for the
governorship ticket of the first defendant in Cross River State.”
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