The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming governorship election in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, has alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state sponsored litigation against his candidature.
Sylva, speaking at the APC national secretariat, shortly after a meeting with the party national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Sylva said the PDP instigated the litigation against his eligibility.
He however said he would contest and win the November election.
He said:’ You can see that for sure we are taking Bayelsa State. It is very clear, clear to the blind , audible to the deaf that we are the ones that are going to win. That is why they are going to court to try to stop me from running because they know that if I am on the ballot it would be a problem for them.
“Their only expectation is to pay any amount of money to make sure that I am not on the ballot. But we have a fair judiciary. I didn’t have setback, they love us in Bayelsa. We have been reaching out to our people. We are going to take off from where we stopped.”
He further alleged that the sitting governor and PDP candidate, Douye Diri, instigated the court action to strip him of eligibility for the election.
“Even the court raised the issue. If a member of APC took me to court and said yes he was the rightful candidate, we can understand.
“But if he considers himself a member of the party and he takes me to court and says the party should not have a candidate at all, then you know that there is a problem. Can he be a member of the party to go to the court?
“He is not saying he is the person that should be the candidate because he didn’t participate in the process at all. But just that he doesn’t want the party to have a candidate at all. So you can see that there is the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob.
“That is very clear. Definitely it is not an APC issue, it is the PDP that is sponsoring renegade members of the APC. We are going to deal with that issue.”
Also, the APC National Campaign Council commended the judgement of the Court of Appeal which declared its candidate in forthcoming Bayelsa governorship election, Timipre Sylva, eligible for the race.
Checks revealed that Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja had nullified the nomination of Sylva.
But in a judgement on Tuesday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the Federal High Court, Abuja lacked the jurisdiction to have heard and determined the case filed by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, who described himself as a registered voter and a member of the APC.
The court held that Kolomo lacked the locus standi to approach the court to challenge the nomination of the party’s candidate since he had not been an aspirant who participated in APC’s governorship primary.
Reacting through a statement, Secretary, Media and Publicity Committee of the APC National Campaign Council, Bayelsa Governorship election, Honourable Yekeen Nabena, said with the judgement, Governor Douye Diri, who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not escape the judgement of the people of Bayelsa State.
The former Deputy National Publicity Secretary who recalled that Governor Diri emerged as governor through the pronouncement of the Court, however said “no governor would again emerge in the south south state through the backdoor.”
“Diri is not known to have ever won any election but always come through the back door to occupy the exalted seat against the popular mandate of the electorates.”
The statement reads in part : “We are using this medium to tell Governor Diri and his cohort that there is no room for black market victory in this election. It is either you come clean or leave the race, but certainly no court will save Diri from heavy defeat this time around.
“History is not about to repeat itself because Governor Diri is not known for ever winning any clear electoral contest and the people of Bayelsa are tired of an accidental Governor.
“Our people are yearning for development, and our candidate’s six-points agenda is not ambiguous. Experiences of our amiable candidate will surely be an added advantage, coupled with his link with the APC at the center and the Renewed Hope Agenda. So, we promise to give the people of Bayelsa a new lease of life once we are able to chase away this government of inefficiency .”
. TheWitness
