A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sacked three National Assembly candidates of the Labour Party in Rivers State.
The candidates affected are those of Obio-Akpor federal constituency and the Port Harcourt federal constituencies 1 and 2.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state had dragged the Labour Party to court for allegedly not complying with the new Electoral Act in their emergence as candidates.
The PDP had asked the court to nullify the primary in which they were elected and direct the Independent National Electoral Commission to disqualify the candidates.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Stephen Daylop-Pam, in his judgment agreed with the originating summon of the PDP that challenged the competence of the Labour Party to nominate candidates in the primary election that INEC did not monitor.
Daylop-Pam also ruled that the PDP proved that INEC did not monitor the primary election of the affected constituencies and ordered the electoral umpire not to recognise the affected candidates of the Labour Party for the 2023 general election.
But counsel for Labour Party and the three candidates, Uche Ollewunne, disclosed that he would advise his clients to appeal the judgment.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Labour Party (LP) in the state, has described the ruling of the Federal High Court as ‘unclear and bias’.
LP Chairman in the state, Hon. Dienye Pepple, in a statement made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, said said those affected are candidates that have already been substituted.
The statement reads in part: “It is crystal clear that the PDP wants to contest the elections alone as they have taken virtually all other political Parties to court in a bid to disqualify all.
“For us in Labour Party, the judgment does not represent the true reality of things as the affected Candidates has already been substituted, hence the Party is already preparing to appeal the matter for the affected constituencies as we are still hopeful that justice would prevail.
“The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has no Locus on this matter and their efforts to discourage our people to go to the poll and vote for our credible candidates would be defeated with God on our side.
“We encourage you to remain resolute in our collective commitment to take back Rivers State and our Country by voting massively for Labour Party come 2023.”.
