An aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election has approached the court, alleging widespread disenfranchisement of his supporters and serious irregularities in the conduct of the exercise, which he claims robbed him of victory despite overwhelming grassroots support.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the court proceedings, counsel to the plaintiff Anderson Asemota maintained that extensive video, photographic, and documentary evidence before the court clearly demonstrates that his client enjoyed substantial support across the wards where the primary election was conducted.<\/p>\n
According to the lawyer, political parties are expected to adopt either the consensus method or the direct primary system in selecting candidates. He explained that where consensus fails, parties are required to conduct direct primaries through an open-secret ballot process, during which accredited voters openly queue behind the aspirant of their choice.<\/p>\n
“Our client participated in the primary election conducted by the party, and the available video evidence shows large numbers of party members queuing behind him in several wards,” counsel stated. “The evidence before the court leaves no doubt that he commanded significant support during the exercise.”<\/p>\n
Asemota alleged, however, that despite the successful conduct of the primary at the ward level, party officials later informed participants that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC had directed that no votes would be counted.<\/p>\n
“At the very least, the results ought to have been announced at the ward level as required,” he argued. “Instead, the aspirants and their supporters were left in a state of uncertainty while declarations were subsequently made in favour of other aspirants without regard to the outcome of the primaries.”<\/p>\n
Counsel described as “shocking and unbelievable” the eventual allocation of zero votes to his client, despite what he described as overwhelming visual evidence of support.<\/p>\n
“We have inundated the court with video and documentary evidence exposing this illegality,” he said. “The APC is even contending that our client did not vote for himself, a position that flies in the face of the evidence before the court.”<\/p>\n
He further argued that the actions complained of amounted to a violation of the provisions of the Constitution, the Electoral Act, the APC Constitution, and the party’s guidelines governing the conduct of primary elections.<\/p>\n
“Our position is simple,” he stated. “Had the party complied with its constitution, the Electoral Act, and its own guidelines, the outcome would have been entirely different. The result would have been declared in favour of our client. Political parties are bound by their constitutions and must operate within the framework of the law.”<\/p>\n
Providing an update on the legal proceedings, counsel disclosed that the matter came up in court for the first time and that the plaintiff had initially filed both an ex parte motion and a motion on notice.<\/p>\n
He explained that the legal team informed the court of its decision to withdraw the ex parte application in order to concentrate on the substantive suit and the motion on notice.<\/p>\n
“We took that decision to give greater impetus to the case and to facilitate the speedy determination of the issues before the court,” he said.<\/p>\n
The matter was subsequently mentioned before the court, which directed that all parties involved in the dispute be properly served with the relevant court processes.<\/p>\n
The court adjourned the case until June 24, when all parties are expected to appear and present their arguments in what promises to be a closely watched legal battle over the outcome of the APC primary election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election has approached the court, alleging widespread disenfranchisement of his supporters and serious irregularities in the conduct of the exercise, which he claims robbed him of victory despite overwhelming grassroots support. Speaking after the court proceedings, counsel to the plaintiff Anderson Asemota maintained that extensive video,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[185,69,184],"class_list":["post-1061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-185","tag-apc","tag-election"],"yoast_head":"\n