By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor, Okey Ndiribe, HENRY UMORU, Chris Ochayi & Ikechukwu Nnochiri
LAGOS — AHEAD of today’s resumption of judicial proceedings on the validity of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP gubernatorial primaries in Bayelsa State, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday charged party leaders not to be intimidated over the disqualification of Governor Timipre Sylva.

The President’s charge came as the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, dared Governor Sylva to reveal the reasons the party gave him for disqualifying him from the primaries.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has pledged not take a pre-emptive position in the determination of the PDP candidate for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.

Chairman of the electoral committee, Navy Capt Caleb Olubolade announcing the result of the PDP primaries held at the Samson Siasia Staidum

The decision of the electoral regulator to pull back came as the PDP went to the Court of Appeal to stop ongoing legal moves by Sylva to prevent the party from forwarding another name to INEC as the party’s candidate for the election.

The PDP’s move Vanguard learnt came amidst palpable tension in its fold ahead of the ruling today by a Federal High Court in Abuja on the legal validity of the gubernatorial primaries in Yenagoa, weekend. The anxiety in the ruling party stems from the fact that the high court had on November 16, warned that any action taken in respect of the Bayelsa State governorship primary election before today, would amount to a nullity.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole who made the order following a motion ex-parte that was filed by the embattled governor of the state had insisted that the purport of the preservative order was to protect the “Res” of the subject matter before the court. The judge equally admonished parties in the suit to maintain status quo ante, pending the determination of the plaintiff’s motion on notice.

Dickson joins suit to disqualify Sylva

Meanwhile, Seriake Dickson who emerged as the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate at the primaries has filed an application to be joined in the suit filed by Governor Sylva to nullify the primaries. In an application he filed pursuant to Order 9 Rule 5 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009, Dickson through his lead counsel, Chief J.K Gadzama, SAN, pleaded the trial court to order that all the processes so far filed by all parties in the suit be served on him.

Likewise, the 2nd defendant, PDP, has filed its own application wherein it challenged the powers of the high court to meddle in a mater it said bothered on an internal affair of a political party. In a related development, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in a rare gesture to INEC, yesterday, praised the commission for dissociating itself from the controversial PDP primaries.

Also yesterday, three gubernatorial aspirants in the gubernatorial primaries called for the cancellation of the primary election which they say was marred by irregularities. President Jonathan made the charge to party leaders not to be intimidated while receiving members of the National Working Committee, NWC of the PDP who visited him in the Presidential Villa to congratulate him on his 54th birthday. He praised the party’s top hierarchy for strictly adhering to what he described as due process in the management of the party.

He said: “I want to use this opportunity to commend you for what you have been doing. It is a phase in Nigerian history. This government will be like a transitional phase in Nigerian history.

Don’t be intimidated—Jonathan

“I commend the party. Continue to follow due process. Don’t be intimidated by anybody as long as you are on the right course. And I believe PDP will lead the country to where Nigerians want it to be”.

Speaking against the background of his silence on the unfolding political drama in his native Bayelsa State, President Jonathan expressed regrets that some people had expected him to intervene in the process. He said: “It is always difficult for people to appreciate things. I notice that in Nigeria political environment, people feel that a leader of the party must always influence the decision of the party. So, influencing the decision of the party now becomes a norm.”

The Acting National Chairman of the party, Baraje who spoke for the NWC, noted that PDP was proud of the President for not interfering in activities of the party and other arms of government.

He said: “Our party and indeed most Nigerians are proud of you for introducing the culture of non interference in the activities of party and the affairs of the other arms of government. Your amiable transformation agenda raised a lot of hope for the common man in Nigeria. As you achieve 54 years on earth, it is our belief that the older you become, the more you excel. The good people of Nigeria appreciate you.”

Fielding questions from State House reporters later, Baraje challenged Governor Sylva to disclose the reason the party gave him for preventing him from contesting in the primaries.

Baraje said contrary to

the claims of the governor, the party made it clear to him why he would not be re-contesting saying that it was within PDP’s right to put forward any candidate it desires.

The acting National Chairman said: “It is an internal affair of the party. If the governor wants to make it public, he can make it public. If he is saying the party has not told him what he has done, it means he doesn’t want to make it public and the party is not interested in making it public. All I know is that in accordance with the law, the party has the right to present whoever is convenient to the party and that is what we have done.

Baraje dares Sylva

“We have our processes and you must go through such processes before you can go to court. If you rush to court and it negates our constitutional provisions, then we will go to court, we will answer whatever you call us for but we subject you again to the provisions of our constitution.”

Baraje, who said last Saturday’s primary election in Bayelsa was one of the fairest so far, added that its conduct was opened to the media to ensure that it was transparent.

He also denied that PDP disregarded a court injunction and conducted the exercise as he pointed out that the only thing the party received from the court was a notice asking it to show cause why the prayers of Governor Sylva should not be granted.

He added: “There was no injunction. What the party had was a motion on notice. It was not an order to stop anything. It was a motion on notice asking the party why certain prayers in that court papers should not be granted by the court and that we should show reasons. We were able to show reasons why we should go ahead. It was not an injunction, it was not an order, it was not anything stopping our party. We are due process party. If the order had come and say stop, we will stop but that order was not to stop us.”

NASS pledges cooperation

Meanwhile, the National Assembly has pledged continued cooperation and support to President Jonathan and his programmes.

Speaking to the President while congratulating him on his birthday at State House, Monday, Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the lawmakers will continue to partner with him in the efforts to make the country a better place for all.

Ekweremadu, who led a 15-member delegation of the National Assembly to State House, assured the President that he could count on them at all times, adding that they would give honest advice whenever they were required to do so.

INEC gives reasons

The decision of INEC to stay away from forwarding a position on the issue according to one senior officer arose from the Electoral Act which the officials said yesterday gave sole authority to political parties to propose candidates for election to INEC.

“INEC doesn’t have power to nullify candidates, it is not in our power at all as the Electoral Act has conferred that duty to the political parties. Ours is to receive the candidates. So, for us it is an internal affair of the party but so long as it is subject to the dictates of the law. The only authority that can disqualify a candidate is the court so as far as this case in Bayelsa is concerned we will be waiting on the courts,” one senior INEC official told Vanguard yesterday.

Another INEC official admitting the perplexity of INEC on the Bayelsa primaries said that “INEC did not monitor the PDP primaries in Bayelsa State last weekend due to the prevailing legal circumstances”.

The legal perplexity of the commission Vanguard learnt, arose from the imprecise wording of the Electoral Law which expunged the hitherto clear provision that requires INEC to monitor the conduct of political party primaries. That provision was removed from the Electoral Act ahead of the last general elections in the wake of controversies shadowing INEC’s presence at the congress of one of the factions of PDP in Enugu State.

Governor Sylva had dragged PDP to court seeking to bar the party from submitting any other candidate apart from himself as the party’s candidate in the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in the State. PDP had excluded Sylva from participating in the gubernatorial primaries alongside erstwhile Presidential Adviser on Amnesty, Mr. Timi Alaibe and the founder of the Silverbird Entertainment Group, Mr. Ben Bruce.

Perhaps perturbed over the judicial quest by Sylva, PDP yesterday approached the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, asking it to stay further proceeding on the suit seeking to nullify the primary election it conducted in Bayelsa State, weekend.

The Party through its National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, is praying the appellate court to halt further hearing on the said suit with number FHC/ABJ/931/2011, which was entered before a Federal High Court in Abuja by governor Timipre Sylva, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed by the applicant against an order that was made by the high court on November 16.

CPC lauds INEC

Meanwhile, the CPC in commending INEC for dissociating itself from the Bayelsa primaries in a statement articulated by its national publicity secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin said: “We hereby wish to commend the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the deliberate patriotic and law-abiding action in dissociating themselves from the charade that took place in Yenagoa on November 19, 2011, in the guise of party primaries. We view this singular gesture as a robust indication of maturity in INEC to reforming and playing by the rules in the service of our father land as far as electoral umpire-ship is concerned.

“Furthermore, it is a damning thumbs-down for the PDP and its leadership, which in saner climes is considered an affront on the rule of law and invariably, the basis of democratic governance. Indeed, this action of the PDP and its leadership is morally, legally and politically reprehensible. Ordinarily, the motion which was filed on Tuesday which was four days to the scheduled party primaries, required that the defendant replies within 72hours [three days] of the filing, but the PDP spurned all avenues to legally respond to the order but chose the path of despicable impudence.”

3 aspirants want primary cancelled

Meanwhile, three aspirants in the Bayelsa Governorship race of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday protested to the National Secretariat of the PDP, calling on the appeal panel to cancel the poll which led to the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidate, Henry Seriake Dickson.

According to the aspirants, last Saturday’s primary election conducted by the PDP which led to the declaration of Dickson as the winner was a sham and could not be described as a primary election, adding that it was illegally conducted without the statutory delegates which led to them boycotting the election against the backdrop that due process was not followed by the electoral panel.

In an appeal letter signed by Christopher FullPower Enai; Boloubo Orufa and Austin Febo and made available to Journalists in Abuja, they also called for the conduct of a fresh Ward Delegate congress to select delegates for a fresh gubernatorial primary election. The letter was addressed to the Chairman, Gubernatorial Electoral Appeal Panel for Bayelsa State PDP.

They also called on the party to punish offending officers in line the guidelines of the party, adding that the leadership of the party must ensure that Dickson no longer parades himself as the PDP flag bearer for Bayelsa State.

The aspirants in yesterday’s appeal letter also accused the leader of the panel that conducted the primary election, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd.) of failing in his duties to comply with the sections of the party’s constitution and guidelines which according to them led to what they termed fraudulent exercise that produced Dickson.

The letter which was dated 19th November, 2011, was copied the leader of the Party, President Goodluck Jonathan, Acting National Chairman of PDP, the National Organising Secretary, and the Chairman of INEC.