The embattled governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC (APC) in the November 11 election in Bayelsa State, Mr Timipre Sylva, has filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja for a stay of execution of the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja disqualifying him form participation in the poll.
Recall that a member of the APC in the state, Mr Demesuoyefa Kolomo, had in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 asked the court to determine whether Sylva was qualified to contest in the election, having occupied the office of governor of Bayelsa from May 29, 2007 to April 15, 2008 and May 27, 2008 to Jan. 27, 2012.
In a judgment delivered on Monday, October 9, Justice Donatus Okorowo ruled that Sylva was not eligible to participate in the governorship election having already spent five years in office as governor of the state.
According to the court, the 1999 Constitution, as amended, permits a maximum tenure of eight years for a governor and that should Sylva contest and win the November poll, he would exceed the constitutional threshold by spending a total of nine years in office.
Rejecting the court’s verdict, the APC candidate, in a three-ground notice of appeal filed through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Ahmed Raji, faulted the ruling saying “it is against settled principles of law and notable precedents.”
Sylva appealed to the court to stay “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 further prayed the court for an order of injunction, restraining all the respondents in the appeal from implementing and/or giving effect to the declaratory orders contained in the judgment.
The appellant also contended that Okorowo wrongly assumed jurisdiction by delving into an issue that was within the domestic affair of a political party.
Besides, he said disqualifying him from contesting the governorship election occasions a grave miscarriage of justice against him, stressing that the trial court had a duty to understand and properly evaluate the case presented before it by the parties and apply the law correctly.
More so, in ground two of the appeal, Sylva maintained that the judge erred in law when he wrongly conferred, allowed and adjudicated on the matter, even though the litigant had no locus standi to initiate or institute the action.
He told the appellate court that the plaintiff in the suit that led to his disqualification, Kolomo had admitted that he did not participate in the primary that produced him (Sylva) as the governorship candidate of the APC.
Sylva further contended that Kolomo, not being a contestant in the primary election, lacked the legal right to query his emergence as the flag-bearer of the APC.
He added that the court failed to properly evaluate, determine and pronounce on a preliminary objection he filed to challenge the competence of the suit and thereby breached his right to fair hearing as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
No date was fixed for hearing.
