L
LequteMan
Guest
Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to challenge the eligibility of All Progressives Congress (APC) to participate in the Offa rerun election which outcome has been trailed by massive protests, reports Daily Trust.
APC had on Friday filed a petition at the local government election petition tribunal to challenge the victory of the PDP in the rerun election conducted on Saturday August 31.
The rerun election was as a result of a petition forwarded by the PDP challenging the victory of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the election conducted in January 2011, which was nullified in February 2013 by the tribunal.
A rerun had been ordered which could not be conducted immediately due to the declaration of a state of emergency in Offa LGA.
By the time the rerun date for the election was announced by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) the ACN had ceased to exist and had merged with the APC
While the APC had approached the court to retrieve what it called its “stolen mandate in Offa”, the PDP is claiming that the APC was not eligible in the first place to participate in the election.
An Ilorin based legal practitioner, Barrister Dayo Akinlaja, SAN, speaking with Daily Trust described the issue as “novel” and said only the court could interpret the eligibility of APC to participate in the election.
“The issue is whether APC can be subrogated to the position of ACN. Unfortunately, the Electoral Act does not make such a provision because it does not say that once the merger of a party is approved, the emergent party would take the previous rights and obligations. There is no such express provision.” He said.