By Cecilia Ijuo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that none of its candidates for the 2019 General Election has been issued a certificate of return.
The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Yekini Nabena, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.
He was reacting to reports that Mr Uba Sani from Kaduna Central had been issued a certificate of return.
The spokesperson said, “no candidate has been given the certificate of return.
“Since you have been following the primaries, has anybody been given the certificate of return?
On the pending motion filed in court by Uba Sani in a Kaduna High Court for omission of his name, Nabena said, “we are going to take a look at all these cases and their merits.
“That is why we have a legal adviser. In the areas of the court, the legal adviser is going to look at all the situations and advise the working committee appropriately.
“We will take a look at everything and those that their names will be sent to INEC will know that they are the candidate of the party,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr James Kanyip, lawyer assigned by APC to represent all defendants in the motion filed by Uba Sani, said to the best of his knowledge, the case had not been withdrawn from court.
He explained that in spite of that, the claimant proceeded to participate in the primary election conducted in Kaduna State.
“He filed an action before the Kaduna High Court on Oct. 3.
He filed an exparte motion for injunction, restraining the defendants from taking certain steps in the primary election.
“The contention was that his name was initially cleared but the headquarters sent the list of those who were to contest the election but his name was not included because it was alleged he was not cleared
“The only candidate they sent for the primary election was Sen. Shehu Sani.
“He got an interim injunction on the matter. So the court gave an order that the status quo in the matter be maintained.
“That is, everything that transpired as at Oct. 2 should be maintained.
“So, to the best of my knowledge that case has not been withdrawn because on Oct. 5, we filed our response to his action on behalf of the defendants.
“The first defendant is APC, the second is the National Chairman, the third is INEC and the fourth is Sen. Shehu Sani.
“So, the national headquarter of APC instructed us to represent the whole defendants.”
Kanyip further said “we filed our processes and while the case was still pending and the order given by the court was still subsisting, we heard that primary election was conducted in Kaduna and that he was a participant in that election.
“Now the problem is, by Article 21 of the APC Constitution, it is an offence for a member to take the party to court.
“The punishment for taking the party to court without exhausting all avenues for settlement is outright expulsion.
“The party will not tolerate any issue affecting that member until the case is withdrawn from court.
“So, taking APC to court, automatically disqualifies him from contesting the election. So, the election he partook in is a nullity.”
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