By Valentine Amanze
A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has refused to bar Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the Edo State governor, from participating in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election slated for Thursday.
Obaseki was granted waiver by the PDP recently after he joined the opposition party from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The suit was instituted by one of the governorship aspirants of the PDP, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, who had vowed not to step down for Obaseki.
A major reason stated by Ogbeide-Ihama was that Obaseki recently joined the party and only those who purchased the forms during the stipulated window should be allowed to participate in the primary election.
Just like Obaseki’s former party, the APC, Ogbeide-Ihama also questioned his educational credentials.
Ogbeide-Ihama also prayed that the primaries be put on hold pending when the court would hear the motion on notice.
The judge, E. A Obile, however, did not grant that prayer. The judge asked that the motion seeking to bar Obaseki be served on the defendants including Obaseki via newspaper publication.
Several newspapers, including PREMIUM TIMES, earlier on Tuesday reported that Obaseki had been barred by the court from contesting the election.
Those accounts of the court proceeding were inaccurate, PREMIUM TIMES later confirmed. Obaseki joined the Peoples Democratic Party on Friday after he was disqualified by his former party, APC, from seeking re-election allegedly for submitting questionable certificates.