Supreme Court Validates Bayelsa APC Governor - Elect's Victory

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision on Tuesday affirmed the nomination of Mr. David Lyon as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and upheld his victory as Governor-elect of Bayelsa State, striking out an appeal by former Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri.

The five-man panel upheld the decision of the court of the appeal which ruled that Lokpobiri’s appeal against the outcome of the September 4, 2019 primary of the APC was filed out of the time allowed by law.

In a judgment read by Inyang Okoro, the five-member panel held that section 285 subsection 9 of the 1999 constitution as amended does not admit any elongation of time when it comes to pre-election matters.

The court said ”Any party seeking redress must file within the 14 days period.”

The appellant cause of action arose on 4th September when he was not declared the winner and not 7th September.

The court held that Lokpobiri’s appeal lacks merit and accordingly dismissed

Lokpobiri had asked the apex court to declare him the candidate of the party and governor-elect.

He told the court that the governorship primary conducted by the APC in Bayelsa State was not done in compliance with the guidelines and the constitution of the party, and therefore, concluded that the party had no candidate.

However, the Court of Appeal, in Port Harcourt, upturned the High Court’s decision last month, declaring that David Lyon was the candidate of the APC for the governorship election.