From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State have dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the People’s Democratic Party, its governorship candidate and 31 others before a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, over noncompliance to electoral act.
The APC in its petition is praying the court to disqualify all the candidates of the PDP for 2023 general elections for allegedly delaying to forward the register containing the names of their candidates to INEC within 30 days as required by law.
It also wants the court to disqualify all the PDP candidates in the state for not properly signing the letter containing the names of the candidates before forwarding it.
When the matter was mentioned in court, counsel for APC, C.C. Dike, moved motion ex parte for substituted service to all the respondants and the court granted the exvparte orders, which enable the plaintiff to serve the respondants by pasting the process on the wall of their addresses.
Presiding Judge, Justice Ayuah Phoebe, before adjourning the case till August 31, 2022, for hearing, directed the plaintiff to effect service to the respondants before the next adjourned date.
Speaking to newsmen outside the courtroom, one of the counsels for APC, Living Gifting-Jamala, explained why they applied for an ex parte order of the court to serve the respondants through substituted means and the reason for the suit.