By Oluwakemi Ishola
With less than 12hours to the conduct of the Ondo State governorship election, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Kalu Agu, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja, to stop the party’s governorship candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu from participating in the polls.
The plaintiff also wants two others, Abiru Tokunbo and Frank Ibezim, both APC candidates prevented from contesting the Lagos East and Imo North Senatorial Districts bye-elections respectively.
The chieftain is seeking the exclusion of APC’s candidates from further elections pending the determination of the suit. He is challenging the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee, NWC by the National Executive Committee, NEC of the party on June 25 this year.
His grouse is that the APC is presently being administered by a caretaker committee, rather than the elected committee and that nomination of candidates for an election by law ought to be by no other person than the Chairman and Secretary of the party.
He also averred that INEC did not receive any notice of primary election for the selection of APC’s candidates for the elections.
He, therefore, prayed the court for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining INEC from acting on any document submitted by the APC Caretaker Committee pending the determination of the substantive suit or placing the APC on the ballot for any election.
Joined in the suit are INEC, APC, Chairman of APC Caretaker Committee and Governor of Yobe State Mai Mala- Buni and 11 others.