Court bars Sylva from Bayelsa governorship election over ‘third term bid’

A Federal High Court in Abuja has disqualified Timipre Sylva, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from contesting in the Bayelsa State Governorship Election scheduled for November 11, 2023.

The court, in a judgement delivered by Justice Donatus Okorowo on Monday night, upheld the suit filed by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, an APC member from Bayelsa State, challenging Sylva’s eligibility to run for a third term as governor.

The suit, with number FHC/ABJ/CS/1010/2023, was filed on September 25, 2023 and had Sylva, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants. Kolomo’s lawyer, Mr. Omosanya Popoola, argued that Sylva had already served two terms as the governor of Bayelsa from 2007 to 2012 and could not seek a third term in violation of the 1999 constitution and the Supreme Court judgement in Marwa vs Nyako.

He also contended that if Sylva was allowed to contest and win the election, he would exceed the maximum of eight years in office as a governor. Sylva’s lawyer, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), however, maintained that Sylva’s first term was truncated by a court order in 2008 and that he only served one full term from 2011 to 2012.

He also cited the cases of Peter Obi vs INEC and Segun Oni vs Fayemi to support his argument that Sylva was eligible to run for a third term.

The court, however, dismissed Sylva’s argument and agreed with Kolomo that Sylva had exhausted his two terms as governor and could not run for a third term.

The court also ordered INEC to remove Sylva’s name from the list of candidates for the Bayelsa Governorship Election and replace it with another candidate from APC.