The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) says the All Progressives Congress (APC) will
participate in the Bayelsa governorship election.
Festus Okoye, commissioner of
INEC voter education and publicity, said the party’s name is among those
to be featured on the ballot papers on Saturday.
He said the court disqualified
the party’s candidates from the election but that it did not rule that the
party will not be featured in the ballot papers already printed.
“We do not have any court judgment
that said the APC should not be on the ballot paper, what the court said is
that the party does not have a candidate,” he told TheCable on Friday.
“Where we are currently is that
we have 45 political parties on the ballot papers and the APC is also on the
ballot. Their votes will be counted as well.
“It is only after we collate the
votes from the various registration areas up to the state level that the
declaration will be made and that is when candidates will be revealed.”
Asked if votes cast for the APC
in the election will be invalidated since the court sacked its recognised
candidate, Okoye said INEC “has not gotten to that stage yet”, adding that
”this will be decided after the voting process”.
The commission earlier recognised
David Lyon as the APC governorship candidate in the election after he was
declared winner in the party’s primary poll.
But a federal high court sitting
in Abuja disqualified Lyon and ruled that the APC does not have a candidate in
the election after its deputy governorship candidate was discovered to have
submitted false academic information.
Another court in Bayelsa also
sacked him while ruling on a separate suit filed by Heineken Lokpobiri. It held
that the party did not conduct a credible primary election.
The ruling, however, came about
48 hours to the poll, long after INEC had printed ballot papers for the
exercise taking place on Saturday.
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