Edo 2012: candidate threatens to sue INEC
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- Category: Latest
- Published on Monday, 28 May 2012 21:26
- Written by Palmer Ogheneyole Nathaniel
The gubernatorial Candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the July 14th gubernatorial election in Edo State, Chief Paul Ishaka Ofemile has vowed to drag the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to Court if it failed to include his name among Candidates for the polls.
Ofemile who was allegedly disqualified for failing to submit his nomination form before the expiration of the constitutionally approved time limit, prayed the Commission to grant him a waiver or risk been drawn before a Court of competent jurisdiction.
The governorship hopeful who addressed newsmen on Sunday at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, Benin City said he was not even formally notified of his purported disqualification by the commission, but only got wind of it in the media.
He said the forms arrived INEC Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, 15 May, 2012, 24 hours after the closure date, and lamented the collosal loss of funds occassioned by campaigns, rallies and consultations, and berated INEC for what he described as an attempt to ruin his political life.
“The primaries in which I was elected as Action Alliance Governorship Candidate was done on Saturday 12 May, 2012, and was monitored by INEC headquarters staff in Benin City. Its Abuja office cannot therefore deny knowing me. INEC was promptly notified in writing with the original copy of Action Alliance for Edo state July 14, 2012 election dated 12 May 2012,” said the governorship hopeful.
Ofemile therefore gave INEC a 72-hour ultimatum, beginning from Friday May 25 for it to clear him for the election, adding that his disqualification was an afterthought.
“I see the said disqualification as an attempt to ruin my political life after the waiver of continuous voters’ registration in Edo State for the Action Congress of Nigeria and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; and I reject it,” he concluded.
