Usani is not C'River APC governorship candidate, Court says

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani

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

Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, a judgment on Monday, dismissed a suit filed by Usani, in which he had, among others, sought to be declared the actual winner of the party’s governorship primary held late last year.

Justice Adeniyi, who resolved all the issues raised by Usani for determination against him, noted that documentary evidence tendered by the claimant and facts in his supporting affidavits showed vital legal flaws, which the court could not overlook.

The judge noted, for instance, that 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.

Justice Adeniyi also 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.

Culled from Nation