Bayelsa guber: Court sacks Sylva as APC candidate

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has disqualified the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, ahead of the November 11 gubernatorial election in the state.

The presiding judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo, in a judgement delivered on Monday, October 9, 2023, said Sylva having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of Bayelsa State would breach the 1999 Constitution (as amended) if allowed to contest the election again.

Justice Okorowo declared that Sylva, the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, was not qualified to contest in the November governorship election because if he wins and is sworn in, he would spend more than eight years in office as governor of the state.

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

The suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 that led Sylva to be disqualified from the governorship election in Bayelsa State was filed on June 13, 2023, by a member of the APC in the state, Deme Kolomo.

The Star recalls that Sylva, as a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won the 2007 Bayelsa State gubernatorial election and succeeded Goodluck Jonathan who went on to the position of Vice President.

Sylva’s opponent in the 2007 election, Ebitimi Amgbare of the defunct Action Congress (AC), legally challenged his victory.

Although the Bayelsa State Election Petitions Tribunal upheld Sylva’s election, Amgbare took the matter to the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, which overturned the tribunal’s decision and nullified Sylva’s election on April 15, 2008.

The Appeal Court also ordered that the then Speaker, Werinipre Seibarugo, be sworn in to replace Sylva as acting governor, with a new election to be held within three months.

Sylva, again running as the PDP candidate, won the governorship election held on May 24, 2008, with 588,204 votes out of about 598,000 votes.

His tenure was however terminated by the Supreme Court on January 27, 2012, with an acting governor appointed to oversee the state until the election of February 2012.

The Star

Segun Ojo