Bayelsa Guber: Sylva files appeal challenging disqualification 

The Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State,

Mr Timipre Sylva has filed an appeal challenging the judgment of a lower court that disqualified him from participating in the elections.

Recall that Justice Donatus Okorowo of a Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja, in a judgment he delivered Monday night, disqualified the APC candidate from contesting in the forthcoming Nov. 11 Bayelsa governorship election.

Justice Okorowo had held that Sylva, having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of the state, would breach the 1999 Constitution (as amended) if allowed to contest again.

The judgment followed a suit filed by Mr Deme Kolomo, an APC member in Bayelsa, praying the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delete Sylva’s name from list of candidates contesting the Nov. 11 governorship poll.

Kolomo argued that having occupied the office of governor of Bayelsa May 29, 2007 to April 15, 2008 and May 27, 2008 to Jan. 27, 2012, Sylva was not eligible to contest.

Sylva’s legal counsel, Mr Ahmed Raji, SAN, filed a stay of execution of the judgment and a notice of appeal making prayers for the court to set aside the judgment.

Raji, shortly after the appeal was filed, said the FHC judgment was against settled principles of law and notable precedents.

“The chances of success at the Appeal Court are very high,” he assured.

He said the appeal raised three fundamental issues touching on jurisdiction, locus standi and wrongful evaluation of affidavit evidence.

In a motion on notice dated Oct. 10, Sylva prayed the court for “an order staying execution and/or further execution of the entire judgment and the orders contained in the judgment of the court, delivered on the 9th October, 2023, pending the hearing and final determination of the appeal lodged against the judgement and orders of this court before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.”

He also prayed the court for an injunction, restraining the respondents from implementing and/or giving effect to the declaratory and executory orders contained in the judgment.

Also in the appeal dated Oct. 10, the ex-minister raised three grounds of appeal.

According to him, Justice Okorowo in his judgement wrongly assumed jurisdiction by delving into the internal affairs of his party, APC, which is a non-justiciable cause of action and thereby occasions a grave miscarriage of justice.

He said the trial  court had a duty to understand the case presented by the parties and apply the law correctly.

In ground two, the former governor said Justice Okorowo erred in law when he wrongly conferred, allowed and adjudicated on the matter when the respondent had no locus standi to initiate or institute the action, having confessed not to have participated in the primary election that produced him as the governorship candidate of the APC, thereby occasions a grave miscarriage of justice against him.

He said the court failed to properly evaluate, determine and pronounce on his notice of preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit and thereby breached his right to fair hearing as guaranteed by the 1999 ‘Constitution.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the appeal.