Bayelsa election: APC speaks out against the court’s dismissal of Timipre Sylva order

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has stated that it intends to contest Chief Timipre Sylva’s disqualification from the November 11 election as its candidate for governor of Bayelsa.

According to Platinumpost, Sylva was prohibited from running for governor in a ruling issued on Monday by Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Okorowo concluded that Sylva would violate the 1999 constitution as amended if she were permitted to run for office again after being twice sworn in and serving as the governor of Bayelsa for five years.

This was said in a statement made on Tuesday in Yenagoa by Mr. Perry Tukuwei, the Director of Media and Publicity for the APC Bayelsa Gubernatorial Campaign Council.

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“The party has instructed its solicitors to file an appeal of the decision, and it is sure that the Court of Appeal will reverse the Federal High Court’s decision.

“This reassurance is in response to a ruling by a Federal High Court in Abuja that has the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate written all over it in an already failed attempt to dash the hopes of Bayelsa people to have their preferred candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, as the next helmsman at Creek Haven by February 14, 2024.

According to Sections 29 and 84 of the 2022 Electoral Act, only individuals who participated in a political party’s primary process have the legal right to challenge the eligibility of the party’s candidate in any election. As a result, the lawsuit brought by one Chief Demesuoyefa Kolomo, who is not an APC member and did not participate in the party’s governorship primary process, lacks this legal right.

This case was filed on June 13, 2023, even though INEC published the names of the governorship candidates for Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi on May 12, according to Tukuwei. “Section 285 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution requires any aggrieved party to file election matter within 14 days of the occurrence of the event,” Tukuwei said.

”He continued.As a result, the lawsuit was brought after the constitutionally required 14 days had passed, leaving it time-barred.

“The court ignored the fact that the plaintiff lacked the locus standi to sue and went ahead and gave judgement in their favour,” the party and the people of Bayelsa said.

He claimed that the lawsuit went against a Supreme Court ruling that all pre-election cases must be adjudicated in the state where the party primaries were place.

“The complaint was filed in Abuja to complete their nefarious act. Abuja is it Bayelsa?

“Thereafter, the Bayelsa APC can smell the coffee and ominous manoeuvre by Gov. Douye Diri to enter through the back door, which is his normal practise, having discovered that our governorship candidate is already coasting home to victory after unparalleled acceptability throughout the state.

“Our beloved Bayelsa people, fear not! We will succeed, and this covert PDP plot shouldn’t weaken our resolve to elect Sylva as the next governor of Bayelsa,” he said.