Dumo Lulu-Briggs, the gubernatorial candidate of Accord Party in Rivers State has said that despite the ruling of a federal high court which mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to expunge his name from the ballot, the party will still be on the ballot.
Recall that a federal high court sitting in Port Harcourt on Thursday ordered INEC to expunge Briggs’ name and replace it Precious Baridoo whom the court said was the authentic candidate of the party.
The court also barred Briggs from parading himself as the party’s guber candidate.
However, Briggs, in a statement by the director of communications of his campaign organisation, Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo, accused the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, of influencing the high court ruling.
He said that the courts have become the governor’s supermarket which he has been using to knock out oppositions for the guber race in the state.
The Statement Read
The Dumo Lulu-Briggs Campaign Organization has received the news of the judgement of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt concerning the identity of the authentic governorship candidate of Accord in Rivers State; and states as follows that:
1. The matter before the court was not about the Rivers State Accord eligibility to be on the ballot for the 2019 governorship election but about who is the legitimate governorship candidate. The Rivers State Accord therefore remains on the ballot.
2. The judgement delivered by Justice E.A. Obile of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt did not come to us as a surprise because the learned trial judge did not hide his bias throughout the duration of the hearing, which led to the early request for his lordship to recuse himself and the subsequent withdrawal of Wilcox Abereton SAN, counsel to Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, when his lordship decided to continue with the case.
3. A petition has since been written to the National Judicial Council against the trial judge on the matter. The entire judgement has no legal standing because the defendants in the case were not given the opportunity for fair hearing and were not given the opportunity to replace their counsel who withdrew from the case.
4. The Dumo Lulu-Briggs campaign organization is not unaware of the shenanigan and evil machinations of governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Governor Nyesom Wike, to use the courts, which has been severally described as “Wike’s Supermarket” to knock out strong contenders in the governorship race.
5. Nyesom Wike’s connection in this dubious act is buttressed by the fact that Mr. Precious Baridoo’s counsel Wori N. Wori Esq is from the law firm of E.C. Aguma SAN, the deceased immediate past Attorney General to Nyesom Wike. Furthermore, Mr. Precious Baridoo got ‘elected’ as Rivers IPAC Chairman months after his purported nomination as Accord governorship candidate, a position known to be occupied only by the cronies of the governor.
6. Recently, during the PDP Presidential rally in Port Harcourt, Precious Baridoo did not only declare support for the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, he led 56 so-called governorship candidates to step down for Governor Wike and endorsed him for a second term. The said Precious Baridoo, who has since been disowned by the Accord National Working Committee, was appointed into the Caretaker Committee of Khana Local Government Area by the Wike-led PDP government.
7. Our faith in the Nigerian Judiciary cannot be diminished by the obvious miscarriages of a few. We are focused and ready to not just vacate this scandalous judgement but obtaining the mandate which Rivers people are eager to offer Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs.
8. Our legal team has filed an appeal and a stay of execution and so Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs remains the governorship candidate of Accord in Rivers State.
9. The aim of the sponsors of this judicial miscalculation to stop Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs and deny the Rivers electorate the much-needed quality governance that the Accord represents shall be disgraced at the end. We therefore call on all our supporters and the good people of Rivers State to remain resolute and focused.
10. The members and supporters of Rivers Accord should go about their lawful businesses assured that light always triumphs over darkness.
