BAYELSA BY-ELECTION: ASPIRANT HEADS FOR COURT

The Bayelsa State House of Assembly by-election scheduled for this to fill the Yenagoa Constituency 11 seat had come under fresh threat as one of the aspirants, Mr. Bubaraye Dakolo had headed for court to stop the election.

Dakolo had also petitioned the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the imposition of Mr. Ebipadei Fekoweimo by the state chapter of the party.

In the petition to the headquarters of the party, Dakolo, through his lawyer, Mr. Chris Uguru said all his efforts to obtain a nomination form from the party was frustrated by party officials who were acting out a script to impose Fekoweimo on the people.

According to Uguru, Dakolo is complaining that the PDP did not follow the provisions of the party's constitution and the 2006 Electoral Act, in picking its standardbearer for the by-election.

The petition stated that interested aspirants were still waiting to pick nomination forms to participate in the primaries when they heard that Fekoweimo had been handpicked by Governor Timipre Sylva and Deputy Governor of the state, Mr.Werinipre Seibarugu, as the standardbearer and his name forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) without any primaries.

The letter reads in part: 'Upon being informed of the vacancy, INEC initially fixed August 14,2010 for a bye-election of a new member for the constituency in the Assembly and so requested nominations from political parties. Our client and other interested candidates made painstaking efforts to pick up forms from the PDP with the intent to participate in the primaries but were denied the opportunity.

'He has filed suit number YHC/244/2010 in the High Court of Bayelsa State wherein regrettably, INEC is a defendant alongside the PDP and Mr.Fekoweimo.' Mr.Dakolo is seeking an application for an injunction against INEC in recognizing or accepting the PDP' nominee as candidate for the bye-election.'

However, when contacted, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the Bayelsa office of INEC said he was not aware whether the commission had been served any court papers.