Timipre Sylva, the All Progressives Congress candidate in the Bayelsa State Governorship Election, has been disqualified by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Demesuoyefa Kolomo, a member of the All Progressives Congress in the state, had asked the court in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 to determine whether Sylva was qualified to contest the election, having served as governor of Bayelsa from May 29, 2007 to April 15, 2008 and May 27, 2008 to January 27, 2012.
However, in a decision issued Monday night, Justice Donatus Okorowo decided that permitting Sylva to run again would violate a clause of the 1999 constitution because he had been sworn in twice and reigned for five years as governor of the state.
The judge also stated that if Sylva is permitted to run for office and win, she will serve for more than eight years.
Okorowo remarked, citing the Supreme Court judgement of Marwa versus Nyako, that the drafters of the country’s constitution declared that no one should be elected governor more than twice.
He further stated that the parties to the complaint agreed that Sylva was elected twice.
Okorowo remarked that the Supreme Court found in the case of Marwa versus Nyako that no one may enlarge or limit the scope of the constitution. So, if Sylva is permitted to run in the next election, that implies he may run as many times as he wants.
cc: Punch Ng
