Senator Adeyemi wins PDP ticket

Senator Smart Adeyemi yesterday won the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senate primary election for Kogi East Senatorial district. Senator Adeyemi beat three other aspirants in the rescheduled primary that was deferred partly on account of judicial intervention.

The primary was held after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja vacated an exparte order stopping the PDP from conducting fresh primary in Kogi Central and Kogi West Senatorial districts.

Senator Adeyemi scored 886 votes ahead of Tijani Faniyi who polled 247 votes, Tunde Olusunle who scored 56 votes and Dr. Abison who scored 10 votes.

The results were released by the head of the panel from the national secretariat who supervised the polls.

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court yesterday fixed January 31,2011for judgment in the substantive suit seeking to stop the party from changing or substituting the two candidates that emerged for the two Senatorial Districts.

The high court vacated the order made on January 25, following an application filed by the PDP National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke to the effect that the court lacks jurisdiction to issue an interim restraining order considering the provision of section 87 [10] of the electoral ACT 2010.

In discharging the order, Justice Abdul Kafarati said he was convinced by the submission that the provisions of section 87 [10] limit the jurisdiction of the court in matters relating to party primaries.

However, the court will on  Monday to decide the legality or otherwise of PDP’s decision to hold re-run primaries in the disputed senatorial districts in Kogi state.

Plaintiffs in the two separate suits, the Special Adviser to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman and Hon Attai Idoko, won the primary elections conducted in their respective senatorial Districts which the party subsequently nullified.

Abatemi_Usman claimed that he had won the PDP primaries election for Kogi Central Senatorial District earlier conducted, haven defeated a serving senator, Local government chairman and eight other contestants.

The plaintiffs are vehemently opposed to re-run on the ground that INEC guidelines for primaries do not permit it.

On his part, PDP is praying the court to allow it hold the rerun, maintaining that it is yet to conduct primaries in the affected areas.

PDP National Legal adviser Chief Oke told the court that about 46 delegates to the primaries were barred from participating in the earlier exercise.

He also told the court that PDP was not bound by INEC’s January 15 deadline for primaries but by the provisions of the electoral Act which he said stipulates that party primaries shall be concluded at least 60 days before the election.