A governorship aspirant in the Labour Party (LP) in Edo State, Kenneth Imansuangbon, has taken the party’s governorship candidate, Olumide Akpata, to the Federal High Court (FHC) in Benin and Abuja, seeking his disqualification.
Imansuangbon, a billionaire philanthropist, popularly called “Riceman,” in view of his regular distribution of bags of rice to Edo residents in the 18 local governments, is asking the court to prevent Akpata, ex-President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), from being the party’s standard-bearer for the September 21 election.
In a suit filed at the Benin Division of FHC by his counsel, A. A. Malik, Imansuangbon said LP, the second defendant, erred by declaring Akpata the winner of the party’s primary election conducted on February 23.
In the Abuja suit, also seen yesterday in Benin by our reporter, Imansuangbon, a lawyer, alleged that Akpata, the first defendant, lied under oath and supplied false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the Benin suit, Imansuangbon claimed that Akpata was not qualified to have contested the primary election, having violated Section 222 (c) of the Nigeria Constitution, as amended, and Article 28 of the party’s guidelines for the conduct of primary poll, declaring that the votes garnered by the first defendant in the primary election be declared invalid.
