- “So, what the commission would do is to go back to its Operation Department and make a determination on which political party came second in the election and which political party got the geographical spread in the election.
Supreme Court directs INEC to issue the Certificate of Return (CoR) to the candidate whose party came second in the Bayelsa governorship election.
Following the Supreme Court’s judgement annulling the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to decide on who’ll be sworn in as governor of the state.
On Thursday, February 13, 2020, a five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili ordered the commission to withdraw the certificate of return issued to the APC candidate as the winners of the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa state.
The apex court in its judgement also asked INEC to issue the Certificate of Return (CoR) to the political party that came second in the governorship election; and which also has the geographical spread in the November 16, 2019 election.
But speaking to Daily Trust on how it intends to comply with the judgement, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, said the commission will have to go back to its Operation Department to determine the party that meets up the Apex Court ruling.
He said, “The Supreme Court has directed the commission to issue the Certificate of Return (CoR) to the political party that placed second in the Bayelsa governorship election and which also has the geographical spread in the election.
“So, what the commission would do is to go back to its Operation Department and make a determination on which political party came second in the election and which political party got the geographical spread in the election.
“Based on that, we would carry out the judgement of the Supreme Court. We would do that when we get the judgement of the Supreme Court, so that we would know clearly what the Supreme Court want us to do and we would carry it out.”
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole has threatened that no one would be sworn in as governor of the state on Friday, February 14, 2020.
Oshiomhole said this at a media briefing in Abuja, on Thursday, February 13, 2020, to declare his party’s intention to challenge the judgment in court.
The party chairman said apart from the APC candidate, David Lyon, no other candidate has the constitutional spread to be sworn in as governor.
He said, “Our lawyers are already studying the judgment to take the necessary legal action”.
