Nigeria: Timipre Sylva, APC reject court verdict on Bayelsa election

Bayelsa State governorship candidate in the 2015 gubernatorial election, Timipre Sylva, and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have asked the Supreme Court to remove Governor Seriake Dickson, on the ground that the election that brought him to office was illegal.

They also asked the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed their appeal seeking to overturn the decision of the State Election Tribunal, which upheld the election of Dickson.

Sebastine Hon,‎ who filed the appeal on behalf of the complainants, raised 27 grounds upon which the apex court was asked to set aside the judgment.

They asked the court to annul the election and the return of Dickson as governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Sylva and his party argued that elections had taken place in Southern Ijaw before the Independent National Electoral Commission cancelled it on the ground of alleged but unproven irregularities.


They accused the Court of Appeal justices of relying on hearsay to arrive at the conclusion that election did not take place in Southern Ijaw.

‎They also said the justices shut their eyes to documentary evidence they tendered, showing that election actually took place in the area in question, and that INEC went beyond its powers when it decided to cancel the election.

The appellants said: “There was a body of oral and documentary evidence, particularly the unchallenged evidence of PW23 and the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area Collation Officer that election had taken place in the local government area, and that collation had taken place in eight of the 17 wards before it was truncated by the cancellation.”