Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), says Duoye Diri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the November governorship election in Bayelsa, will not be sworn in on
Friday.
Reacting to the sack of David Lyon, his party’s candidate
who was declared winner of the election but sacked by the supreme court,
Oshiomhole said the PDP candidate did not meet the requirement for swearing in.
At a press conference in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the supreme
court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw
the certificate of return issued to Lyon and present another to the candidate,
who has the required spread in the election.
He said there was no candidate in the election that met the
requirement apart from Lyon, adding that the implication is that from Friday
Bayelsa will be without a governor.
“Nobody has raised issues about whether or not David Lyon
and his running mate won overwhelming majority in the said election. Issues of
whether a chieftaincy title is part of a name or is not a name,” he said.
“In our view couldn’t be a reason to dismissed the wishes of
the great people of Bayelsa state who repose absolute confidence in the way in
which they elected David Lyon and his running mate during the last governorship
election.
“Let me also say that it is not a state secret, if as the
supreme court has ruled, David Lyon cannot now be sworn in as the person who
has the highest number of votes and the spread to be sworn in, it simply means
from tomorrow there will be no governor in Bayelsa state.
“But, as far as we know the next candidate, as the facts are
before court, who happens to be a PDP candidate does not have one quarter of
the total lawful vote cast in that election in 2/3 of the local government
councils in Bayelsa state.
“And, therefore from the fact available to us, in
consultation with our lawyers, it is clear that there is no candidate that meet
the requirements of the supreme court, which means no one can be sworn in
legally tomorrow unless there is a delibrate abuse of the legal process.”
Oshiomhole said Lyon won convincingly, saying a candidate
who lost the election could not be imposed on the people of Bayelsa.
In a manner which seemed as if he was blaming the supreme
court, Oshiomhole said when a similar case was brought before the apex court in
1999, INEC was ordered to conduct a fresh election.
“In 1999, there was a similar case in Bauchi involving Gov
Adamu Muazu. The court found out that the running mate was not qualified for
whatever reason to contest that election and accordingly the supreme court
nullified the election of Gov Adamu Muazu. And, the court as a consequence
directed INEC to conduct a fresh election,” he said.
“I believe it is still the same supreme court and therefore
we have asked our lawyers to exploit all legal windows to ensure that Bayelsa
people have a governor of their choice.
“I have chosen to respond to this judgement so that we do
not live the great people of Bayelsa in doubt as to where we stand. We stand by
them. I also want the Nigeria public to know the position of the APC.
“Let me say that as bad as the case of Zamfara was, where
after we have won the governorship election, senatorial, house of reps and
assembly elections, the court held that APC didn’t conduct primary in the
state. And, therefore didn’t participate in the election. This one is totally
different.”
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