The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to disqualify the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Siminialaye Fubara, and other candidates from contesting the 2023 general election.
The party is praying the court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify Fubara and 31 others for alleged non-compliance with the new Electoral Act.
APC alleged that the PDP delayed to forward the register containing the names of its candidates to INEC within the 30 days stipulated by the new law.
When the matter was mentioned in court, the APC lawyer, Collins Dike, moved a motion exparte for substituted service on the respondents and the court granted same.
The presiding judge, Justice Ayuah Phoebe, asked the plaintiff to serve the respondents by pasting the process on their walls.
Phoebe adjourned till August 31 for hearing and directed the plaintiff to effect service to the respondents before the adjourned date.
The sixteen National Assembly candidates of the Rivers State APC in the coming general election have urged a Federal High Court judge, Justice Stephen Daylop Pam, to recuse himself from a case filed by the PDP seeking their disqualifications.
They said their outcries became expedient, following the refusal of Pam to withdraw from the case despite undertaking required judicial processes.