Court insists APC has no candidates in Cross River
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Barely hours
to the gubernatorial and house of assembly elections in the country, a
high court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, on Tuesday, insisted
that the removal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates for
the election in Cross River State was a settled matter.
The high court, presided over by Justice
Eyo Ita, in a suit brought before it by an aggrieved APC governorship
aspirant, Mr. Ukpan Odey, said since the reliefs sought by the plaintiff
were the same as that which a federal high court had already ruled on,
it could not rule on them again.
The Federal High Court, Abuja, had on
February 11, in suit FHC/CA/CS/73/2018, ordered the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist all the names of candidates of
the APC in the state from the 2019 elections.
Affirming that the ruling stands, Justice
Ita directed “that All Progressives Congress, the first respondent
herein, is obliged to apply and obey its constitution and guidelines and
their prayer No. 2 was decided in suit FHC/CA/CS/73/2018 on 11/2/2019
and is res judicatory.”
On plaintiff’s prayer No. 3, the court
held that “Prayer N0.3 was decided in Suit N0: FHC/CA/CS/73/2018, and
following that decision, INEC, 2ND defendant herein, has removed the
names of all candidates forwarded to the INEC by the APC as a product of
the primaries from its ballot papers.
Prayers N0.4 & 5 in this case
were granted in suit No: FHC/CA/CS/73/2018. INEC has removed those
names from its ballot papers.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the
judgment, counsel to claimant, A .U Bukar, an aspirant under APC, John
Ukpan Odey, said he was happy with the decision of the court following
the fact that a Federal High sitting in Abuja had already given an order
on the matter.
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