The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Udengs Eradiri, has approached the tribunal seeking the disqualification of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Senator Douye Diri, and his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva.
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Eradiri, who rejected the results, insisted that he was the only eligible candidate that scored the valid votes cast and deserved to be declared as the duly elected governor of the state.
Addressing stakeholders, ward and local government officials of the party at his campaign office in Yenagoa, Eradiri said he decided to explore the legal path after assessing the outcome of the election.
He said: “After the election, we said we were going to look at the issues, and I am here to officially inform the leadership of the party that we have gone to court, and we pray the court to declare me winner.
“The reason is that the two leading parties, the PDP and the APC, produced candidates that were not eligible to contest the election, and I won the valid votes cast in the poll, so I should be declared governor of Bayelsa State.
“There are issues of eligibility of the two candidates, and that is the ground we have gone to the tribunal for. Many people have lost hope in the judiciary, but that small thread we hold onto is the basic for me to challenge the declaration.
“After studying the entire process, I have decided to ask the tribunal to declare me governor. With the spread of my 950 votes you will see that in seven out of the eight local governments, I got the constitutional requirements, so if you invalidate the PDP and APC votes, I should be declared winner.”
Eradiri said he decided to explore the court options in the interest of the suffering people of Bayelsa, adding that he would continue to raise issues affecting the people.
He said: “If the court decides they’ll look the other way, we will still challenge it because of that small thread of hope. We still believe that there are people of integrity in the judiciary and that is what we are holding on to”.
On the crisis rocking the party in the state, he said there was no faction, adding that the party stakeholders and leadership had decided to appoint an acting chairman in accordance with the constitution.
Eradiri said the former chairman of the party in the state lacked the constitutional power to suspend him.
He said: “Some persons decided to leave the party, they voluntarily left. The natural system of discipline in the party kicked him out not me. So there’s no faction.
“The position of the party is clear, if you participate in anti-party activities, it is expulsion. We have a constitution that dictates our modus operandi. I have demonstrated the principles to put the party together so I can’t at this time destroy it myself.”
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