Court dismisses Usani’s claim to APC’s guber ticket

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo, Abuja, has rejected the claims by the Minister of the Ministry Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, to being the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State.


In a judgment yesterday, the court dismissed a suit filed by Pastor Usani, which sought among others that the minister be declared the actual winner of the party’s governorship primary held late last year.
But Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, in his ruling said the documentary evidence tendered by the claimant and facts in his supporting affidavits showed vital legal flaws.


According to him, the court could not overlook these flaws because of its legal implications, adding that evidence presented by Usani in respect of the conduct of the primary fell short of the requirement.
For instance, the Judge said while Usani claimed to have won the primary conducted on September 30, 2018, a report of the primary, issued by the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INRC) in Cross River, tendered by the claimant, showed that the primary was held between September 30 and October 1, 2018.


Also, Justice Adeniyi noted that by the documentary evidence tendered by Usani, it was clear that the primary he claimed to have won was an illegal one, because it was conducted solely by the Cross River State’s APC Executive which has no power, under the law to conduct state governorship primary.


Usani had, in the suit, prayed the court to compel the APC to send his name to INEC, in the place of Senator John Owan Enoh, as its governorship candidate for Cross River State.


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