Court disqualifies APC candidate Sylva from Bayelsa governorship poll

Timipre Sylva, the All Progressives Congress candidate for governor of Bayelsa State, has been eliminated from the race by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Demesuoyefa Kolomo, an APC member in the state, asked the court in a lawsuit with the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 to determine whether Sylva was eligible to run for office after serving as governor of Bayelsa from May 29, 2007, to April 15, 2008, and from May 27, 2008, to January 27, 2012.

However, Sylva was allowed to run again despite having been twice sworn in and serving as the state's governor for five years, according to a ruling handed down on Monday night by Justice Donatus Okorowo.

The judge also stated that if Sylva were permitted to run for office and ultimately win, he would hold it for longer than eight years.

Okorowo cited the Supreme Court case Marwa vs. Nyako in stating that the constitution's authors intended for no one to be elected governor more than twice.

The parties to the lawsuit concurred, he said, that Sylva had been elected to office twice.

Okorowo said that the Supreme Court had determined in the Marwa v. Nyako case that the Constitution's boundaries cannot be increased by anyone. If Sylva is permitted to run for office again, it follows that anyone may do it as often as they like.

Source