Timipre Sylva has hailed the Court of Appeal judgment that reinstated him as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11 Bayelsa poll.
A High Court had nullified Sylva’s candidature but the Court of Appeal on Tuesday said the lower court was wrong in its verdict.
Hours after the judgment, Sylva, a former minister of state for petroleum, said the latest development is a big relief to him.
“I just feel relieved because it was confusing when that judgment came, but I feel very relieved today,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
He added that “today, I think the judiciary has vindicated itself”.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had delisted Sylva’s name from the governorship candidate’s roaster following the earlier judgment.
But the Court of Appeal in its verdict, ordered the electoral commission to relist the APC candidate in the roaster. It also awarded N1 million in Sylva’s favour.
The development surrounding his candidature, according to Sylva, was becoming a pattern similar to what happened when APC’s David Lyon was sacked as the governor-elect just before his swearing-in in 2020.
INEC had declared Lyon as the winner of the 2019 Bayelsa State governorship election, but the Supreme Court in February of the following year sacked him over his deputy’s submission of a forged certificate to INEC and affirmed Douye Diri of the PDP as the governor.
At the risk of the party missing out on the 2023 governorship poll, Sylva argued that what played out in 2020 was almost about to be repeated if not for Tuesday’s verdict.
“That was actually becoming very disturbing. It was becoming something we saw as a pattern but this has rested that,” he said on the show.
He also accused the PDP of being jittery ahead of the exercise.
“The PDP is afraid of this election very clearly,” Sylva added. “They have not done so well and they know. From even the campaigns, everybody can see very clearly. If you go to Bayelsa, it is almost clear to everyone that the election has been won by APC,” the APC candidate added.
