The Peoples Democratic Party has said it will go ahead with the scheduled governorship primaries in Bayelsa State despite a court order warning it not to.The PDP was reacting to the court order obtained by Governor Timipre Sylva from an Abuja Federal High Court.The party, in Abuja on Thursday, said it would base its action on Section 87 (10) of the 2010 Electoral Act. The section states "that nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general elections under this Act pending the determination of any suit." The primaries are scheduled to hold in Yenagoa, the state capital, on Saturday. While granting the order, Justice Gabriel Kolawole had asked the PDP to inform the court within 72 hours while the order must be reversed. The judge, however, adjourned further hearing in the case until Tuesday, November 22.The PDP, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Alkali, said that Section 31(1) of the Act gave a time limit within which a political party must submit the names of its candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission.The section reads, "Every political party shall not later than 60 days before the date appointed for a general election under the provisions of this Act, submit to the commission in the prescribed forms the list ofcandidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections."Alkali also insisted that the party was yet to be served with the court order, adding that because of this, the party did not see any reason it must shift the date picked for the primaries.One of our correspondents, however, reports that the order was pasted at the gate of the party by court bailiffs from the High Court on Wednesday. But the order was removed by some people from the party secretariat the same day.Alkalis statement reads in part, "Further to our earlier statement issued on 16th November 2011, on the legal situation of the forthcoming primaries in Bayelsa State, we wish to restate that no court has issued any injunction restraining us from going ahead with our gubernatorial primaries fixed for Saturday, November 19, 2011."This clarification has become necessary in view of the conflicting and misleading publications in various national newspapers purporting that a court in Abuja has stopped the exercise."The party wishes to draw the attention of our members and the general public to the provisions of Section 87 (10) of the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, which provides that, "nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general elections under this Act pending the determination of any suit."Before Alkalis statement was released, the National Legal Adviser of the party, Chief Olusola Oke, had told journalists that the party was aware that Sylva was already in court.He said it was within the constitutional right of the governor to go to court, but added that the party would have preferred a situation where the matter would be resolved at the party level.He promised that the party would be in court on Tuesday to defend its position on the matter. He, however, did not explain why the party wanted to be in court while it has refused to acknowledged the existence of a court order.In a related development, civil rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, on Thursday in Kaduna said the PDP should respect the recent court order restraining it from going ahead with the primaries in Bayelsa.Sani, who addressed a news conference, appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to focus his attention on the challenges of governance currently confronting his administration at the national level, and not dabble into the politics of his state.The activist, who condemned the exclusion of Sylva from the forthcoming primaries in the state without any "cogent and concrete reasons" described the decision of the ruling party as an "insult and assault" on democracy and the Nigerian constitution.He argued that the Jonathan administrations much-talked about respect for the rule of law would become a mere charade if the ruling party went ahead to unlawfully bar the Bayelsa governor from contesting the primary in defiance of the recent court order.The activist said, "The decision by the PDP to deny Governor Timipre Sylva the right to contest the party primary is condemnable, unjust, unfair and a violation of the basic ethics of democracy and fundamental human rights."However, a group of elders from the Central Senatorial District, Bayelsa State, has declared support for one of the aspirants and member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Seriake Dickson.The elders, under the aegis of Elders and Opinion Leaders of Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, accused Sylva of bad leadership, reckless abuse of power and the mismanagement of resources.The elders in a terse statement read by their Chairman, Chief Godwin Odumgba, accused the present administration of incompetence and of losing touch with the people in the state.They accused the government of mismanaging the N50bn bond it obtained from the capital market, adding that the administration had an "insatiable thirst for frittering public fund and incurring huge debts."But Sylva, in his reaction, said the position of the elders was orchestrated to distract his bid to actualise his second term ambition.The governor, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information, Chief Nathan Egba, said, "All these are expedient because the elders are partisan and they are trying to justify the misadventure of their paymaster."The government does not owe any bank. So the issue of loan and mortgaging the future of people in the state does not arise. They simply want to distract our focus of actualising Sylvas candidacy."
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