A Federal High court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, has nullified all direct and indirect primaries conducted by both factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The court also gave a judgement restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from presenting Tonye Cole and Magnus Abe as governorship candidates in the general elections. Justice James Omotosho, today, said none of the primaries were conducted according to the law.
One of the counsels to the APC factions however said told journalists that the judgement will be appealed at the Supreme Court. Crisis erupted in the Rivers APC during the governorship primaries held in 2018 in the state.
Senator Abe in a direct governorship primary conducted by a faction of the APC was declared winner after he got 144, 929 votes. In an indirect primary held in the state by another faction of the APC, Cole was declared the winner with 3,329 votes.
The national leadership of the APC, however, submitted Cole’s name as its candidate insisting he emerged from the primary conducted by the party. Abe’s faction then approached the Supreme Court over the Appeal Court ruling validating the congresses of the APC in Rivers State. The Supreme Court however invalidated the ruling of the Appeal Court and ordered the parties to return to a lower court.
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