Disqualified guber aspirants in Cross River head to court

Cross River State governorship aspirants have rejected their exclusion from the just-concluded primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that produced Governor Ben Ayade as the sole candidate and winner.

The PDP screening committee had screened and cleared Mr. Emmanuel Ibeshi to contest the primaries only to disqualify him late hours of Saturday which the primaries was fixed while Dr. Paul Udayi was screened and also disqualified from the primaries.They alleged that their disqualification from the primaries was a deliberate plan by the party to return the incumbent Senator Ben Ayade as the sole candidate of the party.

The aspirants also alleged that their exclusion was based on the party’s decision to give the incumbent governor and the National Assembly contestants automatic tickets so as to check them from decamping to an opposition party.

Ibeshi, at a press briefing yesterday, said the governorship primaries was a sham and unacceptable and an act of impunity that would be challenged in court.He said the party had duly screened and issued him with a certificate of clearance only to be informed unofficially at late hours of yesterday (Saturday) that he has been disqualified.

Meanwhile, Udayi has taken the party to the State High Court over his disqualification from contesting the primaries. Udayi filed a suit No: HC/408/2018 by his counsel, Chris Onugba and Bassey Okon, claiming that it was wrong for the party to disqualify him from contesting the governorship primaries.

In the suit, which the PDP, the National Chairman of the party, the Cross River State chairman of PDP, the Chairman of the gubernatorial screening committee for the South-South geo-political zone, and members of the gubernatorial screening Committee for the South-South geo-political zone are the defendants, Udayi averred that no reason was given by the party’s screening committee for the action as at the time of filing the report.