As the gubernatorial election in Rivers approaches, with lots of twists and turns, the disagreement in the state’s chapter of the Accord Party took a new turn as Mr Precious Baridoo, on Tuesday, asked the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to recognise his candidature as the authentic one.
Precious Baridoo told the court during the hearing of the suit he filed that he was duly nominated during the party’s governorship primaries on October 4, 2018 before he was illegally substituted with the name of Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs who didn’t participate in the party’s governorship primaries.
Baridoo insisted that Lulu-Briggs cannot claim to be the governorship candidate of Accord Party when he was not even a member of the party.
Mr Wori Wori, counsel to Baridoo told journalists that Lulu-Briggs and another politician who are not members of Accord Party allegedly substituted the name of the plaintiff without following due process.
The counsel explained that contrary to claims by Lulu-Briggs, his client did not withdraw as the nominated candidate of Accord Party in Rivers State.
“When the plaintiff realised this plot, he approached the court to seek redress. The plaintiff maintains that Lulu-Briggs is not a member of the Accord Party, never participated in the Governorship primaries and did not win the primaries because he did not participate.
“Therefore, Lulu-Briggs cannot purport to be a candidate of Accord Party in Rivers State “, Wori Wori said.
Wori stated the Lulu-Briggs has been dodging from court officials since the matter was filed, hence he has not been served the summon.
The plaintiff applied for substituted service on Lulu-Briggs, which was granted by Justice Abba Obile of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt.
Counsel to Accord Party, Charity Ibezim stated that the party has filed preliminary objection challenging the suit.
The court adjourned the matter to January 17, 2019 for definite hearing of the suit on who will represent Accord Party as Governorship Candidate in Rivers State.
