The chairman, House
Committee on Information, Eseme Eyiboh, has asked a Federal High Court
in Abuja to set aside the ‘primary election’ held in his constituency.
According to Mr. Eyiboh, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) did not
conduct any election before forwarding the name of Bassy Dan Abia to
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as House of
Representatives candidate for the Eket/Ibeno/Esit/Onna federal
constituency in Akwa Ibom State.
According to Mr.
Eyiboh, he contested the said primary election to represent the
Eket/Ibeno/Esit/Onna federal constituency in the 2011 general elections
scheduled for April. He said that the headquarters of his constituency
is Eket and under the party’s constitution, the primaries must hold at
the headquarters.
“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,” he said.
Annulled election
He added that none
of the contestants were elected by delegates in the attempted primaries
as they were annulled due to violence and irregularities. Mr. Eyiboh
explained that all the three contestants agreed to a new date, but by
the guidelines of INEC, the primaries, including the rerun, ought to
have held on or before January 15, 2011 and monitored/observed by INEC.
According to him, because of the failed earlier attempt to hold the
primaries, the party eventually picked January 28, 2011, (12 days after
the deadline fixed by INEC for primaries).
Mr. Eyiboh said that by January 28, the PDP had already missed INEC’s deadline for all political parties to hold primaries.
“The deadline fixed for all to hold was January 15, 2011,” he said.
Furthermore, he
said that for the non-statutory/automatic delegates numbering about 90
for the constituency, no congresses were held to elect them.
“They were
singlehandedly simply appointed,” he said, adding that on the date
fixed for the primaries — January 28, the panel appointed by the party
from Abuja never came to the constituency, and he was surprised to hear
that an election had been conducted there, and Mr. Abia’s name
published as a candidate.
Candidate demands
Mr. Eyiboh is
seeking for an order setting aside the primaries purportedly held at
Uyo Township Stadium on January 28 and 29, 2011 during which Mr. Abia
was purportedly elected as the candidate of the party, and for an order
setting aside the purported sponsorship of Mr. Abia as the candidate of
PDP for the April general elections. Mr. Eyiboh also wants an order of
injunction restraining INEC by itself, agents, servants, officers,
privies and any person acting through or under them from accepting or
otherwise acting on the purported nomination or sponsorship of Mr. Abia
by PDP to the office of member of the House of Representative
representing Eket/Ibeno/Esit/Onna federal constituency. Furtheremore,
he wants an order directing INEC to insert his name as the PDP
candidate for the federal constituency. The matter, which is presided
over by Abdul Kafarati, has been adjourned to March 18 for hearing.
