Bayelsa Guber: Court Of Appeal Rejects Case Seeking Sylva’s Exclusion From Election

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal seeking to prevent former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva from participating in the Saturday, November 11, governorship election in Bayelsa state.

In a judgment on Thursday evening, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal held that the appeal brought by Hon Isikima Ogbomade Johnson was without merit.

In the judgment read by Justice Binta Zubar, the court held that the subject matter of the case was non-justiceable, adding that the case was brought in bad faith.

The court upheld Sylva’s argument that it cannot be said that he took the oath of office as a Governor twice because his first election as Governor of Bayelsa State was voided by courts, which informed why another election was conducted, which he won.

The Court of Appeal, in the judgment on the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1052/2023 rejected the appellant’s claim that the primary election conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on April 14 which produced Sylva as the party’s candidate, was held without compliance with relevant laws.

The appellate court held that the overwhelming evidence presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and APC showed that no legal provision was violated in the conduct of the primary.

It added that with the undisputed evidence coupled with the monitoring report produced by INEC,, the allegations by the appellant that Sylva emerged from a flawed primary election was unfounded.

The court said: “From the uncontroverted independent report of INEC, it was clear beyond any doubt that a valid primary election was conducted by APC and monitored by the electoral umpire as required by law.”

It also held that the case of the appellant was statute-barred having been instituted outside the 14 days allowed by law as a pre-election matter.

The Court of Appeal proceeded to uphold the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo which on September 26, dismissed the suit by Mrs. Johnson for lacking in merit and substance.

The Court of Appeal also imposed a cost of N1 million against the appellant.

Mrs. Johnson had, by an originating summons, sued the APC, INEC and Sylva before the Federal High Court, praying for an order to disqualify Sylva from the November 11 governorship election on the grounds that he had been elected into governorship office twice and took the oath of office and oath of allegiance twice.

She also claimed that the April 14 primary election that produced Sylva was illegal and unlawful, having been allegedly done in contravention of APC’s guidelines.