Appeal Court Dismisses Suit Seeking Sylva’s Exclusion from Bayelsa Poll

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has put an end to the legal obstacles that stood in the way of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, participating in the upcoming governorship election in Bayelsa State.

On Friday, the appellate court rejected the final attempt to block the participation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the gubernatorial poll.

Justice Binta Zubar, delivering the judgment in an appeal filed against Sylva and two others by Hon Isikima Ogbomade Johnson, ruled that the suit was not only unjustifiable but brought in bad faith by the appellant against the respondents.

The Court agreed with Chief James Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), that the allegations of Sylva taking the oath of governorship office twice are baseless, as competent courts had invalidated the first one.

In the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1052/2023, Justice Zubar also dismissed the allegations against APC that its April 14, 2023, primary election, which produced Sylva as the flagbearer, was conducted in contravention of the law.

The unanimous judgment supported Onoja’s arguments that the overwhelming evidence presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and APC indicated that all legal steps were taken in the conduct of the primary election.

On behalf of Sylva, Onoja SAN narrated how APC adopted direct primary for electing the governorship candidate and how a 5-man Electoral Committee conducted the election in 106 Wards of the eight local government areas of Bayelsa on April 14.

The senior lawyer also listed how Sylva emerged with 52,062 votes, leading the pack, while the appellant trailed in fourth place.

The Appeal Court highlighted that the appellant’s claim that Sylva emerged without a primary election has no foundation, given the undisputed evidence and the monitoring report of INEC as a statutory body.

Justice Zubar also ruled that the appellant’s case was statute barred, having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by law as a pre-election matter.

Ultimately, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo on September 26, dismissing the suit for want of merit and substance.

Johnson had filed a suit against APC, INEC, and Sylva, seeking an order to disqualify him from participating in the upcoming November governorship election in Bayelsa State.

Her grounds for challenging Sylva’s candidacy were his alleged prior election into the governorship office and the purported illegality of the April 14 primary election. The High Court dismissed the suit, and the Court of Appeal affirmed its dismissal.