Again, APC postpones Bayelsa guber primary

For the second time in four days, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has postponed its Bayelsa governorship primary to between Tuesday and Wednesday in compliance with an interim order of a State High Court restraining the party from using direct primary.

A statement by APC spokesman, Lanre Issa-Onilu, on Saturday morning said the APC took the decision to postpone the primary after a stakeholder meeting in Yenagoa on Friday night.

“In deference to a court order, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has shifted the date for the Bayelsa governorship primary to Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4, September 2019,” Issa-Onilu said.

Some members of APC in Bayelsa under the auspices of Concerned APC Stakeholders had gone to court to oppose the use of direct primary to elect the standard-bearer of the party in the Nov.16 Guber election.

They secured an interim order on Thursday restraining the use of direct primary.

Messrs Japan Christopher, Evinson Olotu, Oddu Onyimiebi and Onyimiebi Isaih took the National Chairman of APC and 23 members of his executive and Bayelsa chapter executives to court over the decision to use direct primary, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

The judge, E.G Umokoro, also ordered an accelerated hearing of the substantive suit and abridged the time frame for the respondents to file their response and counter affidavit to seven days given the timeliness of the matter.

The party had on Wednesday postponed the governorship primary from the initial Aug. 29 to Aug. 31.

It had cleared six of its seven governorship aspirants.

The cleared aspirants are Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture, Aganaba Steven, Ebitimi Amgbare, Diseye Poweigha, Lyon Pereworimini, and Ongoebi Etebu.

A former Cross River Resident Electoral Commissioner, Briyai Frankland, was disqualified.