Court Disqualifies Timipre Sylva From Contesting Bayelsa Governorship Election

By Akinwale Kasali

There is crisis in the camps of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Timipre Sylva, the APC Governorship Candidate at the forthcoming Bayelsa Gubernatorial Election.

A Federal High Court in Abuja, has disqualified the former Governor from contesting in the polls. It  stressed that Sylva had been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as Governor of the state, meaning that it would breach the 1999 constitution as amended if allowed to contest again.

Justice Donatus Okorowo who delivered the judgment stated that Sylva was not qualified to run in the forthcoming November poll because he would have spent more than eight years in office as governor of the state if he wins and is sworn- in.

While citing the case of Marwa vs Nyako at the Supreme Court, Okorowo maintained that the drafters of the country’s constitution stated that nobody should be voted for as governor more than two times and that the parties to the suit agreed that Sylva was voted into office two times.

According to the Judge, the Supreme Court had also ruled in the case of Marwa vs Nyako that nobody can expand the constitution or its scope.

It held that if Sylva was allowed to contest the next election, it meant a person could contest as many times as the person wanted.

This development has led to series of debate in the political and judiciary cycle, as the judgment is  being interpreted.

Sylva is set to approach the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling of the Federal High Court.