A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and a lawyer with the Senator Magnus Abe’ faction, Barrister Golden Chioma has said the claim by Tonye Cole that he is still the Guber candidate of the APC had been cancelled by an earlier High Court judgement.
Barrister Chioma who was a guest on African Independent Television, AIT’s Democracy Today, explained that the Appeal Court’s grant of execution does not in any way give Cole the power to claim the Guber ticket.
He added that with the appellate court ruling, only Abe faction is now empowered to lay claim to the party’s Guber ticket considering the judgement earlier given by a state high court.
According to him “Will the Supreme Court overrule itself again,” recalling that the apex court had earlier ruled that primaries earlier conducted by the Cole faction were a nullity.
The former House of Assembly member insisted that the party only requires the direct primaries conducted by the Abe faction.
On whether the appellate court will not further rule to Cole’s favour considering the situation on ground, he responded that “I don’t see them deciding that case before 16th of February.”
The APC chieftain maintained that the only way out of the current impasse in the party was for both factions to sit down and agree, as he reasoned that the Abe candidature still remains valid.
“Cole’s option is dead and buried by judgement of the High Court. I don’t see anybody upturning it now, even up to 2nd March,”