Some people wants to put sand inside GEG's Garri.(see details below)
The Court of Appeal will on October 20 hear an
appeal challenging the adoption of President
Goodluck Jonathan as the consensus
presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) ahead of next year’s general
election. The application was filed by a former
PDP governorship aspirant in Adamawa State,
Dr. Umar Ardo, who has indicated interest in
contesting the presidential election on the
platform of the party.
Ardo is urging the appeal court to grant him
leave, as an interested party, to be joined in an
earlier suit decided at the high court between
one Cyriacus Njoku, a member of PDP, and
Jonathan, so as to use the particulars of the
case to challenge the president’s emergence as
PDP’s sole candidate.
Njoku had in suit no. FCT/HC/CV/2449/2012 at
the Abuja High Court contested Jonathan’s
eligibility for the February 14, 2015 presidential
election, having been sworn in twice as
president. But the court ruled on March 1 last
year that Jonathan was eligible to contest the
2015 presidential election. Njoku appealed the
ruling, but the appeal is yet to be decided.
Now Ardo wants to rely on the particulars of the
case to sue the president and his party for
adopting him as sole candidate for the coming
presidential election.
Documents obtained from the Court of Appeal at
the weekend by THISDAY in appeal no CA/
A/574A/M2013 stated, “Take notice that the
above mentioned motion appeal/judgement has
been listed for hearing before the Court of
Appeal Abuja sitting at the 3 Arms Zone on
Monday, October 20, 2014 at 9am.”
The notice of appeal, dated October 10, was
signed by the Senior Registrar of the Abuja
Division of the Court of Appeal.
Ardo is urging the Court of Appeal to quash the
September 18 resolution of the PDP National
Executive Committee that endorsed Jonathan as
the sole presidential candidate of PDP in next
year’s election. The endorsement had followed
similar approvals by the PDP Governors’ Forum
and the party’s Board of Trustees. Ardo claimed
that his fundamental human rights as a Nigerian
and a financial member of PDP had been
breached by such endorsement of Jonathan by
the NEC and other organs of the party.
In the appeal filed September 23 by Dr. Amuda
Kannike (SAN) and Doueyi Fiderikumo on behalf
of Ardo, he alleged that the decision of the lower
court raised “grave points of constitutional law
and jurisprudence that is the first of its kind in
Nigeria.”
The affidavit deposed to by Ardo read, “I am
desirous of contesting the election to the office
of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
which is slated to hold on or before February
2015 and my desire is mainly built on my
conviction that the president would not be
eligible to contest the said election which would
have cleared the way for a free and fair level
playing ground contest for the party primaries.”
Meanwhile, PDP on Friday commenced the sale
of nomination forms to aspirants wishing to vie
for positions in the coming general elections. The
national headquarters of the party in Abuja was
yesterday thronged with chairmen of the party
from states across the country, who had came
to collect the forms for all categories of
aspirants except those for the governorship.
However, there were indications at the weekend
that All Progressives Congress might have finally
resolved to conduct an open primary election to
pick its presidential candidate for next year’s
election.
The decision to jettison the idea of a
compromise candidate followed discussions by
the presidential aspirants and leading power
brokers in the party to try to agree on a power-
sharing arrangement that would reduce the
winner-takes -all tendency and its potential
acrimonies. The party also appears to have
brought forward to November its presidential
primary earlier scheduled for December 2.
At a meeting Thursday night at the Rivers State
Governors Lodge, in Abuja, stakeholders of the
party were said to have unanimously agreed to
go ahead with primaries, resolving to set aside
all considerations for a consensus candidate or
automatic ticket. They also reaffirmed the
party's position to commence the sale of
presidential nomination forms on October 13.
Former Head of State, General Muhammadu
Buhari, ex-Vice President Atiku Anubakar, Kano
Sate Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso, former Kwara
State Governor Bukola Saraki, Imo State
Governor Rochas Okorocha, and newspaper
publisher Sam Nda-Isaiah are the major
presidential aspirants in APC.
The party’s NEC recently adopted the modified
direct primaries. But this has caused division
between the camps of Buhari and Atiku. While
Buhari and his supporters have called for the
adoption of a consensual arrangement as
stipulated in Article 20 of the APC constitution
and section 87(6) of the Electoral Act, as
amended, Atiku has insisted on allowing
contestants to face each other in a transparent
presidential primary.
A source within APC told THISDAY in confidence
that the plan to move the presidential primary to
November was to enable the party tackle the
internal dissensions, including the fallouts of the
national convention.
The source said, “As part of the logistic plans, it
is the general consensus that the December 2
date is too close to enable a genuine
reconciliation meeting on the outcome of the
presidential primary election. The consensus is
that the National Executive Committee will meet
not later than Tuesday to agree on the
modalities for the shift from December 2 to
second week of November.
“In the meeting of the caucus last week, where
the idea to revisit some of the modalities of the
presidential primary was discussed, it was
agreed that no presidential primary would go
without conflict. So the idea of an earlier date is
to give room for reconciliation, hence the
decision to shift the date to November.”
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