>
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, has stopped Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, from participating in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election.
Obaseki had defected to the PDP following his disqualification from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party under which he was elected in 2016.
The PDP had also given a waiver to Obaseki and Philip Shuaibu, his deputy, to run on its platform.
However, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, one of the PDP aspirants, filed a suit that the governor be stopped from contesting in the primary election rescheduled to hold on Thursday, June 25.
In the suit, Ogbeide-Ihama said only aspirants who purchased the party’s nomination form and were screened within the stipulated time should be allowed to contest in the primary.
He also questioned the validity of Obaseki’s certificates; the same reason given by the APC for his disqualification.
In his ruling on Monday, Justice E.A. Obile. granted Ogbeide-Ihama’s request.
In the order of interim injunction, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was also asked not to recognise the governor as an aspirant until the determination of the suit.